Five best bowling spells of Shardul Thakur's career
Jasprit Bumrah, who had injured his fingers in the first T20I against Ireland last week, was ruled out of the ongoing T20I series against England, and as the Indian side looked like they will reel under his absence, Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) pacer Shardul Thakur has been lined up as a replacement to the Bumrah, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the T20I format.
Thakur comes from a very successful season in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he won the title with Dhoni and co. The bowler was instrumental in some victories for the team as he was able to pick up a few important wickets.
While Thakur's domestic career has easily taken off with him playing for the Mumbai side, he has not really been exploited in the International conditions. The England outing could hence prove to be a make-or-break period of time in the young man's career.
Let us take a look at some of the most outstanding spells of Shardul Thakur, over the course of his cricketing career.
#1 6/53 and 3/70 against Uttar Pradesh, Ranji Trophy Group Stage (2014)
In a match that Mumbai won convincingly by eight wickets, Shardul Thakur was the pick of the bowling department of the winning side. Thakur removed the top four batsmen of the UP squad on different occasions, never allowing any of them to post big scores. Tanmay Srivastava at 67 was the only exception. After a brief break, he came back to remove two batsmen from the middle and lower-order, and wrapped up the Uttar Pradesh innings at 206. Thakur's individual figures read 25.4 - 9 - 53 - 6.
Mumbai replied with a score of 270 and when UP came to bat again, Thakur picked up three more wickets, as Tanmay Srivastava fell prey to Thakur once again, this time for a duck. Arish Alam had a nightmare game, with the UP middle-order batsman getting dismissed for naught in both innings, both times by Thakur. By the end of the game, Shardul Thakur's overall figures read 42.4 - 13 - 123 - 9, and he was elected player of the match.