Outside Eden Gardens, a crowd gathers every day when the Mumbai players board the bus taking them to the hotel after the day’s play. Mostly, they chant the names of SuryakumarYadav, Shivam Dube and Ajinkya Rahane. Amid the noise, largely unnoticed, this player quietly makes his way towards the bus. Some recognise him. Most do not.
Shardul Thakur chose the right moment to make his presence felt. With national selector Shiv Sundar Das watching from the VIP box, the medium-pacer dismantled Haryana in this Ranji Trophy quarter-final. Resuming the day at 263/5 in reply to Mumbai’s 315, Haryana were all out for 301. Thakur claimed all the wickets to fall on the third morning to finish with figures of 6/58. It helped his team seize the first-innings lead and the control of the match. At stumps, Mumbai were 278/4.
This brilliant spell came at the right moment for the India discard. He doesn’t have an IPL contract this season and Ranji Trophy is his last opportunity to impress the selectors before the five-Test series in England starting in June. The team is desperate for a fast bowler who can bat. Although NitishKumar Reddy did well in that role in Australia, he can’t do what Thakur does with the ball.
This pitch at Eden Gardens offered nothing to the fast bowlers after the first hour and a half on the opening day. The new ball was hardly effective during that period on Day 2 and it was no different on Monday. Thakur himself was below-par a day earlier and bowled incoming deliveries to the right-handers despite having four fielders in the slip-gully region.
He was a different bowler after bagging a wicket with a bouncer in the first over of the day. The second new ball was taken as soon as it became due eight overs into the morning. Thakur was spot-on with his outswingers from the word go. His first ball with the new ball caught the edge and was taken by the wicketkeeper. Another edge was caught at first slip two balls later. The last two batters were trapped in front of the stumps by deliveries that moved back in.
Outswingers, off-cutters and bouncers — Thakur displayed a wide range of variations and skills. More than that, he showed a big heart by giving his best for his team on an unresponsive pitch. After gallant nineties by Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian, his role in Mumbai occupying the driving seat was immense. Such performances in knockout games carry additional value.
Thakur has played 11 Tests and the last one was against South Africa in Centurion in December 2023. He was successful in England with the ball and the bat in 2021. With all the proper India all-rounders being spin bowlers, someone like Thakur is what any team would like to have in English conditions. He can be the ideal person in the role of a third or fourth seamer who can contribute with the bat. In fact, he saved India from trouble as a batter on multiple occasions.
The 33-year-old is in form too. In the ongoing Ranji season, he is Mumbai’s fourth-highest run-getter with a tally of 396 from nine innings at 44.00 with a century and three fifties. As usual, most of his runs came when the team was under pressure. He also has 30 wickets at an average of 21.10. Thakur has done what was in his hands. Now, he will hope that this gets noticed.
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