England bowled India’s first innings for 191 runs on the first day of the fourth Test match being played at The Oval on Thursday on the basis of excellent bowling by the bowlers led by Chris Woakes (4/55). Had it not been for Shardul Thakur, India might have scored less than 150 runs. Shardul Thakur played the highest innings of 57 runs in 36 balls with the help of 7 fours and 3 unmatched sixes. Apart from him, only captain Virat Kohli could reach 50 runs.
When the giants failed, Shardul took over
In the Oval, where batsmen like Rohit, Pujara, KL Rahul, Rahane and Pant were flop, Shardul Thakur played a record-breaking innings. Shardul overtook Viru during his swashbuckling innings of 57 off 36 balls. In this innings adorned with seven fours and three sixes, he completed his fifty in just 31 balls. With this, he now also became the fastest Indian batsman to score the fastest fifty against England.
Such an all-rounder who is like Kapil, match winner
India seems to be getting a new all-rounder in the form of Shardul, who broke the record of Sehwag’s fastest half-century. This was Shardul’s second half-century, playing only the fourth Test of his career, while also taking 11 wickets. Team India has been looking for such a pace bowling all-rounder for a long time, who, like the World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev, proves to be a winner for Team India.
Will Team India’s search for Hardik’s replacement be complete?
Hardik Pandya has tried to fill this gap in the last few years, but he is not able to get rid of the injury. Vijay Shankar was brought in, but he did not live up to the expectations. Now that Shardul Thakur has shown his batting skills, Team India is expected to get a pace-all-rounder.
The first fear of this all-rounder was shown in Australia
The Indian team created history by defeating Australia 2-1 in the Test series at the same ground. The script for this victory saga was written in Gabba. Heaven for the Kangaroo team, Shardul Thakur was one of the heroes of the victory on this ground. He scored 123 runs in ODI style in the first innings with Washington Sundar on a very delicate occasion and now he has done wonders on the first day of the fourth Test being played at The Oval. Where the veterans were failing, Shardul made a fifty in 31 balls in a stormy manner.