'Why can't the same happen here' - Shardul Thakur inspired by Mohammed Shami's heroics in Hamilton

Team India have pulled off back-to-back “midnight ‘robbery’ at the expense of New Zealand in the past two games in Hamilton and Wellington. And, while one can lament on New Zealand’s ‘luck’ or their inability to close out the game or their penchant for bottling up a winning situation, due credit must be given to the bowlers who made it possible.

In both the games, the match was virtually done and dusted but Mohammed Shami in Hamilton and Shardul Thakur, two days later, proved that if one have enough confidence in its abilities, one can conjure up outrageous heists. Both Shami and Shardul Thakur opened up on those dramatic final overs and their thought process at the time to Yuzvendra Chahal’s show: Chahal TV.

Shami said that all he was trying to bowl was yorkers as he knew that the batsmen would invariably go for a big shot early-on to kill the run-chase. Shami got it wrong on the first ball and Taylor duly deposited it into the stands. With virtually nothing to lose, Shami restored to bowl short-of-a-length bouncers which worked as Williamson edged one to KL Rahul and Siefert only managed to sneak in a bye off the next two deliveries. With just one run to defend, Shami then resorted to Plan-A and nailed Ross Taylor with the yorker to seal the deal for India.

“I was planning to bowl good yorkers. I tried on the first ball, it slipped out of my hand, and it went for a six. I had nothing to lose afterward. I was thinking how to get dot balls. I thought we have already lost, let’s try to bowl some bouncers. After Williamson got out, I thought that short ball will do the trick. With the scores tied, I had just one option on the last ball, to get a dot ball. So, I went with a yorker delivery and it paid off,” Shami said.

Shardul, on how he took inspiration from Mohammed Shami 

Two days later, Shardul Thakur found himself in the same situation and after having seen his senior pacer seal the deal form a similar situation, Thakur believed that it can be done. Shardul took the wicket of Taylor off the very first delivery but was hit for a boundary when he dished out a rank half-volley.

“There was a lot of pressure. I was trying to get a wicket on the first ball. Mostly, a batsman tries to go for four or six on the first ball to try and finish the match as early as possible. My idea was that I will give a slow ball to make them go for a big hit. The plan worked. When I was hit for a four on the second ball, then the pressure increased.”

Post that, Thakur resorted to the use of Knuckle-balls and bouncers- just like Shami did in Hamilton, to inflict another tie at the expense of the Kiwis.

“But in crunch situations, you can get hit for a six or a four, so I did not lose hope. We saw how Shami Bhai was hit for a six on the first ball, but then he defended 3 runs in 5 balls. So why can’t the same happen here. It can happen again,” he added.