'I always believed that I had the ability to bat' - Shardul Thakur on his game-changing performances at The Oval

Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur has said that he wanted to create an impact for the team as soon as he got to know that he will be playing in The Oval Test against England. On Monday, India defeated England by a margin of 157 runs on the final day. Looking back at the Test match, Thakur, who didn’t play the second and third Test, had contributed immensely to this win. 

Thakur scored 57 runs from 36 balls in the first innings helping India to recover from 127 for 7 to reach 191. Then, with the ball, he dismissed Ollie Pope for 81 when the batter was looking set for a big hundred. The Mumbai player followed that up with a 60 in the second innings with the bat where he was involved in an important partnership with Jasprit Bumrah. On day five, the right-arm pacer broke the opening stand of 100 and also picked up Joe Root’s scalp.

With all these contributions, a lot of people argued that he should have been given the player of the match for impacting the game so many times. However, the award actually went to Rohit Sharma for his 127 in the second innings. Thakur though seemed satisfied with his performance, which helped India secure a 2-1 lead. 

I am very happy that I could contribute more than 100 runs and three wickets in the game: Shardul Thakur

“It feels great, the day I got to know I am playing the game, I planned on creating an impact in this game and create such an impact that I have to make a useful and winning contribution for the team. On day five, with this result, I am very happy that I could contribute more than 100 runs and three wickets in the game. I always believed that I had the ability to bat, in the nets, there was enough time to bat. I think these are the small things I have done in the nets,” Thakur said to the BCCI.tv. 

Having set England a massive 368 runs to win, India was always going to be the favorites. But Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed got them off to a brilliant start with a century partnership, which was broken by Thakur. In the post-lunch session, India picked six wickets, with four of them falling in a space of six runs, which put India on top. England was eventually bowled out for 210.