High praise for Shardul Thakur’s batting in Wisden

Shardul Thakur hits out against England in the Oval Test on September 2, 2021 in London. Pic/Getty Images

Shardul Thakur, the Mumbai-based India pacer, who has developed a reputation for some sizzling batsmanship, has received high praise in the 2022 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack for his willow deeds.

Thakur's 31-ball 50 in the September 2-6 Oval Test of 2021, which India won by 157 runs, was the fastest in terms of balls.

In his report for the Test, Hugh Chevallier, wrote: "He [Thakur] was injured at Lord's and unwanted at Leeds, but in only in his fourth Test he contributed two fifties, one a game-shifting innings of pure chutzpah, the other an act of such maturity it belied a first-class average of 16.

"For a player of Thakur's instincts, blocking is rarely the answer at 127 for seven, so he was perhaps liberated by the hole in which India languished."

Thakur is playing for the Delhi Capitals in this edition of the IPL and will be hoping to make an impression in Edgbaston, where the 2021 Pataudi Trophy series resumes on July 1.

It can be recalled that the fifth and final Test of the 2021 series in Manchester was postponed because India were unable to field a fit team amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.