Ruled out of Asia Cup, Shardul Thakur shines with bat & ball in Vijay Hazare Trophy

He was ruled out of Asia Cup after the game against Hong Kong in Dubai on September 18 with soreness in right hip and groins and was replaced by pacer Siddharth Kaul. Shardul Thakur could not do much against the qualifiers, Hong Kong scoring a duck and conceding 41 runs in four overs without any success. However, the 26-year-old bowler was back in form at home and could be ruing that he could not get to play much on the international stage.

Shardul took the field for Mumbai against Punjab in a Group A game in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Friday and he excelled with both the bat and ball to help his side win. Punjab skipper Mandeep Singh won the toss and elected to field in the game played at Justice Cricket Academy Ground, Bengaluru.

Mumbai had a good start with their openers putting up 75 but then a lot of batsmen in their ranks couldn’t convert their good scores into big scores and they were left 213 for 8 in the 47th over. It was then that Shardul came out to bat and added a valuable 32 runs for the last two wickets with his partners in just less than three overs.

Of these runs, Shardul himself scored 30 in just 14 balls with the help of two boundaries and three sixes (strike rate 214.28). Shardul was the last wicket to fall for Mumbai as he was bowled by Mandeep.

Shardul takes 3 for 53 after scoring 30

Punjab started their chase well with the openers putting up 70 runs. Dhawal Kulkarni was the first to strike when he picked Anmolpreet Singh and Shardul was not late to match his new-ball partner’s feat, getting the other opener Shubman Gill caught behind.

Shardul struck again when Punjab were trying to resurrect their innings in the sixth wicket by catching Gurkeerat Singh off his own bowling. It was a vital blow and Shardul derailed the opponents further when he got MS Gony out in the 42nd over. Both the Mumbai opening bowlers took three wickets each with Kulkarni being the frugal one.

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