India’s Shardul Thakur, along with Washington Sundar, stole the show on day 3 of the 4th Test against Australia in Brisbane, as the duo put on a 123-run stand for the 7th wicket, helping India reduce the 1st innings deficit to just 33 runs.
Thakur hit his maiden Test fifty, scoring 67 runs in 115 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. Sundar, on the other hand, made 62 in 144 balls with 7 fours and 1 six, as the duo help India go from 186/6 to 336 in their first innings.
Speaking about his innings, Shardul said that while going out to bat, India coach Ravi Shastri had told him that performing in Australia will make people love him.
"When I walked in, the situation was difficult. The crowd was cheering for Australian bowlers, they were on top at that point in time, but I remember our coach Ravi Shastri saying right at the start of the white-ball series, he said if you perform in this country, you will be rewarded and people will love you for your performances. That one thing was also in my mind that if I perform here it will help my team and people will love me," said Shardul.
He also said that he backed himself with the bat, saying, “I have the talent for batting, whenever there are throw downs taking place in nets, I practice my batting, these are the type of moments for which we practice our batting.
An opportunity presented itself in this match, I knew that the team would benefit if I stay at the crease for a long haul. I haven't batted with Sundar much, I have just batted with him once or twice, once it was in a T20 match and once it was a practice game.”
Talking about their partnership of 1233 runs, Shardul said, “Both of us have that temperament to succeed at this level, honestly we were not looking at the scoreboard, the idea was to spend some time in the middle.
We knew their bowlers were tiring, it was a matter of one hour, if we hung in there for one more hour then probably we would be on the top as the bowlers were already tiring. Both of us were communicating really well in the middle, if someone was losing control or trying a rash shot, we were immediately communicating that let's get back to normal.”
"We were trying to defend a lot, as our partnership went on, we know there is some true bounce here at Gabba, we were just waiting for our chance, whenever there was a loose delivery, and we were trying to put that away. It is a long tour, as a player, it is challenging to stay motivated and do well in the last game, the series is tied at 1-1, this game turns out to be the series decider so you do not need extra motivation, it is about giving 100 per cent for the team," he added.
Shardul said that he did receive some words from Australian players in the middle, but he ignored them and concentrated on his batting.
"Australian players were trying to have a conversation with me, but I was not replying. I just replied once or twice, there were a lot of normal questions, even if they were trying to sledge me, I did not hear it, I just played on" he added.
(ANI inputs)
