Twitterati dumbfounded as Indian team picks Shardul Thakur for Vizag ODI against West Indies

The Indian team is taking on the West Indies side in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. The visitors have already gone 1-0 up thanks to their commanding 8-wicket win in the first match at Chennai and the home side is now fighting to keep the series alive, as a loss here will mean a series defeat.

The Indian team has not lost an ODI series at home for quite some time now, and with that record under threat, their performance in the Chennai one-day was scrutinized a lot. The team management had banked on Shivam Dube and Kedar Jadhav bowling 10 overs in between them as the fifth and sixth bowlers. However, the decision backfired as spinners totally failed to pick any wicket in the middle overs or stem the flow of runs.

The Men in Blue were hit hard as Bhuvneshwar Kumar was found to be battling a sports hernia and Shardul Thakur was brought in the Indian squad as his replacement. Toss in Vizag one-day match went in the Kieron Pollard’s way once again and he opted to bowl first, given that chasing the runs is an easy task than defending on Indian pitches, with dew being a factor. Kohli also revealed that they had decided to make one change to the playing XI and brought in Shardul Thakur in place of Shivam Dube.

This proved to be a good choice given Indian team missed a bowler in the last game, but the choice of Shardul Thakur proved to be difficult one for the Team India fans on Twitter to swallow given that they had the chance of bringing in Yuzvendra Chahal as well, who had done well in the T20I series before this 50-over encounters.

28-year-old Thakur, who hails from Mumbai has played 1 Test, 5 ODIs and 7 T20I matches for India since making his debut in 2017. He has a total of 6 ODI wickets and 8 T20I wickets, while his only Test so far ended up in him being injured after bowling 10 balls, against the West Indies in 2018.

He was already a surprise pick to replace Bhuvneshwar in the Indian squad. But Kohli and co. going for him in the Vizag ODI, led to the fans trolling Thakur to the fullest.

Here are some of the most brutal tweets:

Shardul Thakur playing! India need 500+ runs!@SGanguly99 @BCCI @imVkohli #indiavswestindies

— prateek joshi (@prateek032) December 18, 2019

Wow shardul thakur comes in. Series win for WI looks brighter now

— VIJAY -brother of VJ (@vijayfromnellai) December 18, 2019

Shivam Dube replaced by Shardul Thakur because Virat wanted to add more d̶i̶m̶e̶n̶s̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ runs to the attack. #INDvWI

— Manya (@CSKian716) December 18, 2019

Shivam Dube Is A Better Batsman Than Shardul Thakur & Obviously A Better Bowler Than Him. So Why This Change!!! Another Shastri-Kohli Masterclass. #INDvWI

— Dinesh Berry (@CricketSpeaks) December 18, 2019

Mark my word.. if today india loose then Shardul Thakur will be the reason… #INDvsWI @BCCI @imVkohli I hate this type of selection where you always select few people who never performed good. I think there is few loophole in selection process for few players.

— Proud Indian (@IAmProudIndian7) December 18, 2019

@cricketaakash Aakash Ji, why Shardul Thakur is there in the team ? Why should India invest in such kind of players !

— Sudesh Singhal (@cdfb8c03d2884de) December 18, 2019

Bass yehi baaki tha.. 🙏🙏 @BCCI pichli baar ki pitai kam tha.. ab #shardulthakur ko liya .. ye ab dhool me milayega sab kuch.. be ready for a massive pitai. #INDvWI #wivsind

— Jayanta Kar (@Jayantakar0) December 18, 2019

Aaj to inhone shardul thakur ko liya hai😂

— Raj Patel (@rajudia000) December 18, 2019

Shardul Thakur gets into ODI … FML

— 15Degrees (@desigiri82) December 18, 2019

If Bhuvi and bumrah injured than Ishant deserve a chance instead of these IPL players ( Deepak , shardul thakur) ..these both need to play domestic cricket @SGanguly99 @BCCI #INDvsWI

— VIKRAM SINGH (@vikramsingha1k1) December 18, 2019

#starniadugu why team India picks Shardul Thakur , why not Bhuvi..

— Praveen Sukumar (@PraveenSukumar9) December 18, 2019

#shardulthakur replaces Shivam Dubey.
Meanwhile Shivam Dubey be like.😆😆#INDvWI #INDvsWI pic.twitter.com/GQuEEBSH7O

— Ashwani Sharma (@Curious__Panda) December 18, 2019

Shardul Thakur can break few bowling records…
If Pooran ,Hetmeyer, Pollard fires.. https://t.co/tP1Hzl4nz1

— Abhik (@Abhik07997450) December 18, 2019

Sharul Thakur included in PLAYING 11. Reaction of West Indies…#INDvWI #WIvIND #shardulthakur pic.twitter.com/pAQCebUWJR

— Chintan Buch (@chintanjbuch) December 18, 2019