Shardul Thakur Credits The India A Tours For The Formidable Transition Of Young Indian Cricketers

Indian seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has credited A tours for his seamless transition to the senior side following his brilliant performance in the ongoing series-decider at the Gabba against Australia.

Shardul Thakur, who is playing just his second Test match for India in Brisbane, claimed three Australian wickets in the first innings and if that wasn’t enough, the all-rounder displayed his batting might to the hilt on the third day as he flayed the mighty Australian attack to all corners of the ground to the tune of 67 off 115 balls.

Shardul revealed that his trip to Australia with the ‘A’ team in 2016 gave him exposure to tracks Down Under and five years later, the experience helped him to acclimate to the conditions.

“A-Tours are meant to give experience to your second lineup. It has helped a lot, we were here in 2016 and we played at the Allan Border Field. We played four-day games there, pitch there is different, but at least you are used to Australian conditions, when you take that leap from India A to the senior side, the transition is not that difficult, it is all about how you execute at the senior level,” Shardul Thakur said.

 

‘I knew that the team would benefit if I stay at the crease for a long haul’- Shardul Thakur

Shardul Thakur was involved in a defiant 123-run-stand with debutant Washington Sundar for the 7th wicket. He had joined Sundar in the middle when India was reeling at 6/186.

But the Mumbai all-rounder along with Washington Sundar ensured that they lift their side out of the woods with a record-breaking stand, ensuring that the visitors eventually posted a respectable 336.

The all-rounder revealed that he wanted to cash-in on the opportunity, knowing pretty well how his knock could help the team in the Test match. He added that both he and Washington Sundar have the temperament to succeed at this level besides revealing that neither of them were looking at the scorecard during their partnership as the only thing that they were focussed on was batting for as long as possible.

”An opportunity presented itself in this match, I knew that the team would benefit if I stay at the crease for a long haul. I haven’t batted with Sundar much, I have just batted with him once or twice, once it was in a T20 match and once it was a practice game,” said Shardul.

“Both of us have that temperament to succeed at this level, honestly we were not looking at the scoreboard, the idea was to spend some time in the middle. We knew their bowlers were tiring, it was a matter of one hour, if we hung in there for one more hour then probably we would be on the top as the bowlers were already tiring. Both of us were communicating really well in the middle, if someone was losing control or trying a rash shot, we were immediately communicating that let’s get back to normal,” he added.

Also Read: Shardul Thakur And Washington Sundar Grabbed The Opportunity With Both Hands: Sunil Gavaskar