Published: May 23, 2016, 06:28 PM (IST)
Edited: May 24, 2016, 05:11 AM (IST)
Shardul Thakur was one of the surprise picks for Team India for the tour of West Indies 2016. Thakur has been one of the consistent performers for Mumbai in the last couple of Ranji Trophy seasons. He was drafted in Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) squad but was dropped from the team in the midway, with not much opportunities coming his way. He also showed his disappointment after being discarded from KXIP’s squad on Twitter. In the domestic front, the right-arm pacer has been going great guns and will like to make a mark against West Indies. Here are some of the interesting facts about Mumbai’s pacer: READ: India announce squad for West Indies tour 2016; Ajinkya Rahane named vice-captain
Took 41 wickets in 2015-16 Ranji Trophy season: Thakur was one of the instrumental performers for Mumbai in last edition’s Ranji Trophy, becoming Mumbai’s highest wicket-taker by bagging 41 scalps. He took 2 five-wicket hauls at an average of 24.51 at a splendid economy rate of 2.75, showing his dominance over the batsmen. READ: Shardul Thakur hopes for India call-up following 4-wicket haul against South Africa
Scalped 48 wickets in 2014-15 Ranji Trophy season with 5 five-wicket hauls: Thakur’s performance in Ranji Trophy 2015-16 was not a fluke, as he picked up 48 wickets with 5 five-wickets hauls. He was the joint highest wicket-taker along with R Vinay Kumar in that season. Moreover, he was also the second highest wicket-taker for his side in Ranji Trophy 2013-14.
Impressive figures for Board President’s XI in 2015 against South Africa: Thakur ended the two-day practice match against last year’s visitors, South Africa, by taking valuable wickets of established batsmen such as Hashim Amla, Stiaan van Zyl and Faf du Plessis. They were tottering at 57 for 5 at one point, mainly due to his swashbuckling spell.
Scored 6 sixes in an over in Harris Shield in 2006: Thakur grabbed headlines for the first time when he smashed 6 sixes in an over in the Harris Shield. This was the first instance where 6 sixes where hit in Harris Shield, making him overall third player after Gary Sobers and Ravi Shastri to achieve this feat. Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh achieved the same feat after Thakur in the next year.
Handy batsmen with two First-Class fifties: Thakur has concentrated more on his bowling but is a handy batsman as well with two First-Class fifties, both coming against Uttar Pradesh in different seasons. His highest score is 87.
IPL career: Thakur did not get chances with Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), even though he was retained by the team in this edition’s IPL. He made debut for KXIP in IPL 2015 against Delhi Daredevils (DD), ending with figures of 3-0-38-1.
(Aditya Sahay is a journalist with CricketCountry who is completely into sports and loves writing about cricket in general. He can be followed on Twitter at adisahay7)
