IPL 2019: For Shardul Thakur, the last ball LBW in final remains a dreadful thought

For Shardul Thakur, the memory of the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 must be more painful than even his only 10-ball duration in debut Test in Hyderabad last year. Batting for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the dying moments of the game against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Shardul needed to score a brace to see his side win or at least a single to take the game into the super over. Lasith Malinga bowled one that was right on the middle stump and Shardul missed completely trying to swipe it down the leg slide. He was caught plumb and the CSK lost yet another final to the MI, this time by a solitary run.

For the 27-year-old bowler, the feeling is dreadful. He could have been a hero for eternity had that delivery touched his willow but it was not his day. Shardul, who had a decent outing with the ball in the match with 2 wickets for 27 runs, now rues that he hadn’t got his leg out while attempting to hit the ball. What is hurting the cricketer more is that when he walked into the ground, the only thing that he had in his mind was a win. But eventually, there remained a gap between the lips and the cup.

‘Should have got my leg out and hit’

“Paoon nikalke marna chahiye tha (I should have got my leg out of the way and blasted the ball),” Thakur was quoted as saying by the Indian Express as he spoke with a regretting tone.

“When I walked to the crease, the only thing running through my mind was to win. It’s (Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal) a big ground, if the ball goes in the deep, there are chances to get two runs.”

Shardul, who was sent ahead of the experienced Harbhajan Singh after Shane Watson got run out and the team needed four runs off the last two balls, took two off the first ball and was hoping that he would hit over the square leg in the decisive ball had Malinga’s yorker misfired.

Non-striker Ravindra Jadeja had advised him not to go for an aerial shot in the last delivery and the plan was to take two from a ground shot. But it was clearly not the CSK’s day.

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