Mohammed Shami's Heroics In 3rd T20I Instilled Belief In Me: Shardul Thakur

The flamboyant cricketer Shardul Thakur defended seven runs in the final over of the fourth T20I against New Zealand–to help his team attain a second consecutive Super Over win in Wellington.

India now have a 4-0 lead in the five-match series. While Shardul helped India tie the game, chasing 14, KL Rahul made 10 before getting departed off the third ball and then skipper Kohli finished the game off with a boundary.

With 18 needed off 18 balls, New Zealand were once again the favourites to win the tie, but they shot themselves in the foot and crumbled from 155/3 in 17 overs to 165/7 at the end of regulation play. And this time around, it was Thakur who was the hero for India.

In the 3rd T20I against the Kiwis on Wednesday, Shami had to defend 9 runs in the final over, and he gave away 8 runs to push the match to a Super Over, where the visitors picked up the winning flag.

On Friday, a similar turn of events took place as Thakur defended 7 runs to push the match to another Super Over.

Mohammed Shami (Bhai) defended 3 runs in 5 balls – Shardul Thakur 

Speaking on Chahal TV, Thakur revealed what was going in his head when he prepared to defend seven runs. Thakur was knocked for a boundary like Shami, who gave six off his first ball.

However, they injected a belief in themselves to make a comeback in the game.

“There was a lot of pressure. I was trying to get a wicket on the first ball. Mostly, a batsman tries to go for four or six on the first ball to try and finish the match as early as possible. My idea was that I will give a slow ball to make them go for a big hit. The plan worked. When I was hit for a four on the second ball, then the pressure increased.”

“But in crunch situations, you can get hit for a six or a four, so I did not lose hope. We saw how Shami Bhai was hit for a six on the first ball, but then he defended 3 runs in 5 balls. So why can’t the same happen here? It can happen again,” he added.

All in all, both games were memorable for the Indian National Cricket Team. The third and fourth T20I will be remembered for a long time by the fans and also personally by Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami.

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