Shardul Thakur made his bat and ball do the talking in the third and final ODI against New Zealand on Tuesday (January 24) in Indore. His all-around efforts helped Team India beat the Black Caps by 90 runs in the final game to clinch the ODI series with a 3-0 margin on Tuesday.
Thakur played a valuable knock of 25 runs off just 17 deliveries, hitting three fours and one six, as well as stitching a 54-run partnership with Hardik Pandya (54) to take India's total to 385 on the board.
Later, the pacer snared three wickets to help Men in Blue restrict New Zealand to 295 runs and helped India win the game by 90 runs in Indore and clinch the series 3-0.
After the match, Hardik Pandya was asked by the former India coach Ravi Shastri about who was giving advice to whom during his partnership with Shardul, and the all-rounder came up with a hilarious response to the latter’s tongue-in-cheek question.
As Shastri cheekily asked who was given the advice to whom, Hardik laughed before saying: “Luckily, I was glad Shardul has faith in me and lets me dictate the terms inside.”
The star all-rounder added, “But he always has his point and I always try to listen, but at the end of the day, because of his faith in me, he does what I exactly want. So, in our partnership, it was combined but I'm grateful to Shardul for listening to me.”
On the other hand, Shardul said at the post-match presentation in Indore: “I am liked by my teammates (chuckles). When the opponents come after you it’s important to stay in the moment. I don’t think too much. You got to be ready for different situations. Everyone enjoys batting. In modern-day world it’s all about batting.”
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