Shardul Thakur should bat at No 8 in Test, especially in SENA countries

0
1218

Shardul Thakur’s brilliance with the bat and ball in the 4th Test played a vital role in making Team India win a crucial game. He slammed two fifties and took three wickets in the match. The star all-rounder has received praise from every nook and corner. Now, Harbhajan Singh, the veteran Indian spinner has also lavished praise on Shardul’s decent run in red-ball cricket.

Shardul Thakur replaced Ishant Sharma in the 4th Test and the young player grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He scored a brilliant fifty in the first innings followed by his 2nd consecutive fifty in the 2nd game. The right-handed pace all-rounder made his international debut during the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Since, then he has played 4 Tests, 15 ODIs, and 22 T20Is in which he has managed 37 wickets and amassed 266 runs.

Harbhajan Singh wants Shardul Thakur to bat at number 8

In the absence of Hardik Pandya, the 29-year-old has certainly filled the void on the national side. He has given justified his worth with the performance he delivered in the past six months for Team India.

Harbhajan Singh, the veteran Indian off-spinner asserted that Shardul Thakur has emerged as a big positive prospect for Team India. He feels that the team management should play him at the 8th number in batting. As per him, Shardul Thakur has shown enough caliber to bat and bowl for Team India on wickets where they cannot play to spinners like in England.

“I would like to see him batting at No 8 and scoring runs consistently for Team India, especially in countries like Australia, England, New Zealand, and South Africa, where you can’t play two spinners and someone needs to bowl too as your main fast bowler and bat also as your No 5 to 7 batsmen. Shardul is pretty capable of doing that at No 8, where he can score runs and win games for the team,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying in Times of India.

“If he continues to work on his batting and continues to put the hard yards in his bowling, he can solve India’s problem of finding a dependable all-rounder after Kapil Dev. It’s so good to see the way he batted, and it will build his confidence going forward,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying,” said Harbhajan Singh, who is with the Kolkata Knight Riders team in Dubai.

“He has done well for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy for many years. He’s been a dependable player for them. It’s the right time for him to take his game to the next level, and he’s done exactly that. I don’t think CSK or any other IPL franchise has done wonders to his game. He’s matured with age and time. He’s always been a very good bowler,” Harbhajan said. in an interview.