Shardul Thakur is not the type of bowler who is going to get wickets like Jasprit Bumrah: Michael Holding

Former West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding has expressed that he doesn’t feel Shardul Thakur will be successful in the conditions at The Oval in London. England and India are playing the fourth Test of the Pataudi Trophy 2021 at the venue currently and the wicket doesn’t seem to play like everyone had expected it to be. 

On the first day when India batted, the English pacers got better off the wicket as it was fresh and had a bit of grass on it. But on day two when India was bowling, the pitch seemed to have eased out a bit. By day three, it was quite flat. The criticism towards Thakur came after his first spell on day two. 

India had got two wickets in the very first hour and had England reeling on 62 for 5. But, Ollie Pope hit Thakur for four boundaries in one over. Mohammed Siraj bowled the next over and was smashed for three boundaries by Jonny Bairstow. This is the exact moment when England got out of the rut and pushed the pressure back on India. Holding expressed that Thakur was not getting anything from the wicket and he might not be very successful in the conditions at The Oval. 

Shardul Thakur is not the type that is going to get wickets like Bumrah and Yadav: Michael Holding 

“What disappointed me after the first hour was the fact that they didn’t have anyone to continue the pressure – Thakur came in and bowled but he’s not the type that is going to get wickets like Bumrah and Yadav. There just wasn’t anything there and he’s just not going to be very effective under these conditions,” Holding said on Sky Sports.

Thakur ended the day on a positive note though as he got the crucial wicket of Pope, who was cruising towards his hundred. Pope dragged one ball to his stumps and was bowled for 81. That was Thakur’s only wicket during his 15-over spell where he gave 54 runs. Shardul also scored a brilliant 57 run-knock of just 36 balls. 

Holding further expressed that he was impressed with how Umesh Yadav, who got three wickets, bowled. “Yadav surprised me a little bit because I didn’t expect him to be a little bit more effective than Bumrah and I think he did. Bumrah bowled some fantastic deliveries and both of them showed pretty good control,” Holding said.