Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar lauded the duo of Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar, who added gritty 123 runs for India’s seventh-wicket partnership in the first innings.
The duo after their heroics on the third day of the fourth and final Test match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy staggered the entire cricket fraternity and earned praises from all corners, including the likes of Virat Kohli, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Tom Moody and many more.
The duo of Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur put on an absolute show on day 3 at Brisbane. The two lower-order Indian batsmen batted like a dream and absolutely stunned the hosts in the series decider at Gabba.
Washington Sundar scored a fifty on his debut and finished with 62 while Shardul got 67 in his first batting innings in Test and the duo rescued the visitors from a hazardous position in the series decider at Gabba, Brisbane.
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Former Indian batsman and current commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar, highly praised the duo of Sundar and Thakur.
Manjrekar, 55, wasn’t surprised to see the two batsmen bat in the manner they did and said that both batsmen have proved their batting prowess in the First-class cricket and IPL.
“It shouldn’t surprise those who have watched them a little bit. Washington Sundar, we’ve seen his batting ability in the IPL and other T20 matches. He’s been a worthy First-Class batsman. He started his career as an Under-19 batsman,” he said on Sony Networks.
“Shardul Thakur has this unique hitting ability that we’ve seen in many small but crucial moments. Once for India against West Indies and then I think one of the playoff games with Faf du Plessis. He’s got this nice hand-eye coordination but today technically also very good.” he added.
Referring to the jaw-dropping drives and shots, the duo played against the lethal Australian attack Sanjay Manjrekar said “Some of the drives that he played, Washington Sundar, the balance that he has… and the advantage that you have when you’re a Shardul Thakur or a Washington Sundar is that when you come with no baggage,”
Manjrekar was amazed by Sundar's skills and talent and credited his lack of international experience for his confidence.
"You’re coming there, you’ve not played this kind of bowling before in Australia. You haven’t had any dismissals in the past in this series to be clouded in the way you bat. So they came out with a clean mind. Imagine the talent of the guy, the way he bowled and batted.
He didn’t look like a part-time off-spinner. He got three wickets and three deserved wickets so when I look at players like Sundar I’m just amazed by the talent he has. Batting, bowling all in one package.” he concluded
Thakur and Sundar’s gritty partnership of 123 runs broke the record for the highest seventh-wicket partnership for India at The Gabba, Brisbane.
The duo broke the 30-years-old of Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar who scored 58-run partnership record for the seventh-wicket in 1991.
(Hindustan Times Inputs)
