It remains to be seen if Shardul Thakur, who has played three of his eight Tests so far in England, makes it to the playing XI since India would certainly want to go in with an extended batting line-up.
India’s fast- bowling each- rounder Shardul Thakur has nominated the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, starting on Wednesday at The Oval, a “ formerly- by-a-lifetime moment ”, and he’s keen to make it count.
It remains to be seen if Thakur, who has played three of his eight Tests so far in England, makes it to the playing XI since the Rohit Sharma– led platoon would clearly want to go in with an extended fur line- up.
But on his part, the 31- time-old says he’s ready to make it count in the final.
“I feel that ICC event, tests especially, you don’t get to play them far and wide each and every time, so it’s, for a many players or notoriety like me, a formerly- by-a-lifetime moment, ” Thakur told the ICC.
He added, “ All that I want is to make it count. It’s always a special moment when you ’re representing your country especially India, when there’s a billion people out there who dream of playing for the nation and only the stylish 15 have been chosen to represent the country, ” Thakur added.
Thakur’s case will be a tough one to ignore, for he struck binary half- centuries — 57 and 60 — and claimed three lattices as India won by 157 runs at The Oval in September 2021 against England.
“It’s always good to flash back your former performances on a particular ground, but every game is a fresh launch. It’s different opponents this time around, but yeah it’s always good to take provocation from what you ’ve done in the history on a particular ground, ” he said.
Thakur said batters should look to maximise the advantage in England when the sun is out, since bowlers tend to get a lot of advantage in heavy conditions.
“I suppose England is grueling because the rainfall then’s a bit funny. When the sun’s out, it’s good for fur, when it’s heavy, it’s good for bowling, so the toss hardly matters, it’s all about the pall cover.
“Obviously, the pitch also plays an important part, but we ’ve seen in the history that whenever there’s pall cover, the ball suddenly starts swinging and you ca n’t really prognosticate how important the ball is going to move, so that’s one of the biggest challenges that a batter faces, ” he said.
Thakur added, “ When it’s not swinging, England (has) also got the stylish pitches to club on, so it becomes inversely tough for bowlers. Indeed in the helpful conditions, it’s kind of important to find the right length to nick a batter off or hit his pads, so this is a country that’s grueling . ” Know More Latest Test Cricket News…
