'Picking Shardul Thakur over Navdeep Saini is a blunder' - Twitter roasts Mumbai pacer after poor show in Hamilton

It was inevitable, wasn’t it? At some time, it had to happen! For far too long New Zealand had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory; in fact they did it three times in a row in the just-concluded five-match Twenty20 International series. They were threatening to do so once again in the first ODI at Seddon Park in Hamilton, but in the end, Shardul Thakur’s listless bowling in the penultimate over and some pulsating hitting by Mitchell Santner sealed the deal for the BlackCaps.

Shardul Thakur once again endured a night to forget as he struggled to control his line and length and was duly taken to the cleaners by the likes of Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, and other New Zealand batsmen. He went on to concede 80 runs in his nine overs at an economy of 8.9 which also included a 22-run 40th over where Ross Taylor and Tom Latham teed into his juicy lengths.

The team management’s decision to opt for Shardul Thakur for the first One-day International came as a huge surprise for everyone, considering the fact that he was dropped from the side following another forgetful day against Australia in Mumbai in the last ODI series. And his replacement-Navdeep Saini- had impressed with his pace and temperament in the limited opportunities he has got.

And, so naturally, the Netizens aren’t impressed with Shardul Thakur’s performance and want Virat Kohli and the team management to replace the Mumbai fast bowler with Navdeep Saini. But, it wasn’t only Shardul who had an off day. Overall, the Indian bowling was pretty undisciplined.

Indisciplined team India on the field

They bowled as many as 24 wides and were pretty wayward when it came to line and lengths, something that was exploited to the hilt by Ross Taylor, Tom Latham and co, something Virat Kohli also acknowledged in the presentation ceremony. Apart from Jasprit Bumrah, all the other bowlers conceded more than six runs an over.

To make things worse for the skipper, the fielding wasn’t up to the mark either with Kuldeep Yadav dropping Ross Taylor’s catch when he was on 12 and the veteran made the visitors pay.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: