'He isn't called Lord just like that' - Virender Sehwag heaps praises on Shardul Thakur

The year 2021 has been really good for Shardul Thakur. Starting from Gabba, to the T20I series at home against England and then the Test series in England, everything has gone his way. In fact, the phrase ‘whatever he touched, turned to gold’ is quite apt for Thakur. Now, in the second leg of the IPL 2021, Thakur is putting up solid performances for Chennai Super Kings. 

Former Indian batter Virender Sehwag has praised the bowling all-rounder for his commendable performances in the IPL. He particularly talked about the match between Chennai and Kolkata, where Thakur bowled a fantastic spell, making sure that the opposition batters didn’t score a lot of runs. 

Bowling first, Chennai faced an uphill task to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders’ batters for a low score. KKR eventually ended on 171 for 7 but Thakur had bowled four overs for just 20 runs. He also took the scalps of dangerous batters Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell. While speaking on Cricbuzz Live Hindi, Sehwag said that Thakur was an essential factor for which KKR didn’t manage to get a huge score. 

Only reason KKR was unable to score 200 runs in that game was Thakur’s death bowling: Virender Sehwag

“It would be unfair to say that the pitch suited Shardul. It was his bowling skills – yorkers, knuckleballs, or slower bouncers – which should be credited for his excellent performance. The only reason KKR was unable to score 200 runs in that game was Thakur’s death bowling, especially when he got Russell out. He isn’t called ‘Lord Shardul’ just like that,” Sehwag said. 

After coming back from England, Thakur’s bowling seems to have improved a lot. In the second leg, he has picked up six wickets in four matches. In the last year, Thakur has seemed to have added a lot of variations to his arsenal which has significantly helped his bowling in T20 cricket. In fact, half of Thakur’s wickets in the IPL have come in the death overs (16-20 overs). Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra also spoke about Thakur’s abilities. 

“Yes, he (Thakur) has added variety to his arsenal. But he did decline his traditional seam-up outswing bowling recently, which he has eventually increased bowling now and it is proving fruitful for him. He now knows how to use his variety in what situation of the game and bowled the right balls at the right time,” Nehra said on Cricbuzz Live Hindi.