Following Team India’s 157-run success against England in the 4th Test at the Kennington Oval in London, Indian batsman Rohit Sharma feels Shardul Thakur deserves to be awarded Player of the Match. Shardul received 3 wickets in the play, including those of English captain Joe Root in the 2nd innings, when the Three Lions needed 368 runs to win. Here is Rohit Sharma About Shardul Thakur.
Rohit Sharma About Shardul Thakur
In the 4th innings, Shardul took the valuable wicket of Rory Burns, who had put on a 100-run partnership with Haseeb Hameed for the opening wicket. Rohit stated that Shardul’s crucial wickets helped India’s comeback in the match.
Shardul Thakur deserves to have the Player of the Match award: Rohit Sharma
“It was a match-winning effort from Shardul Thakur. He deserved winning the Player of the Match award as well. He gave us crucial breakthroughs in critical times,” Rohit said in an Interaction after the game.
“I wouldn’t say we were under extreme pressure, but with England at 100 for no loss, getting the important wicket was a great effort. Then getting the all-important wicket of Joe Root was a brilliant effort as well,” he stated.
Shardul was also praised by Rohit after demonstrating his bat-handling skills. Shardul entered to bat with India’s 1st innings at 117 for 6 in 49.5 overs. Thakur, on the other hand, didn’t let the pressure get the best of him, smashing 57 off 36 with 7 fours and 3 sixes.
The way Shardul batted got us to a decent score: Rohit
India may have finished 50-60 runs short of where they finally got if Shardul had not helped with the bat. Shardul has clear goals and objectives for striking red-ball, according to the limited-overs vice-captain.
Rohit, 34, was convinced that Thakur’s half-century in the 1st innings gave India the confidence they needed in the Test match.
“Then, how can we forget his batting. To score around 50 off around 30 balls says a lot. He has worked hard on his batting and I’ve seen him closely over the years. He loves his batting; he wants to prove a point that he can score runs,” Rohit stated.
“It was a momentum-changing innings as well. In the first innings, we could easily have been all-out for 130-140, but the way he batted got us to a decent score. I got the POTM award, but I felt Shardul should have been a part of that as well,” he added.
Also read: Win Or Lose We Are Going To Be The Same: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
