India all-rounder Shardul Thakur was at his best with the bat yet again as he smashed a superb and crucial half-century and bailed India out of trouble in the fourth Test match against England at Kennington Oval in London.
Thakur also top-scored amongst Indians with 57 off 36 balls overtook legendary English all-rounder Sir Ian Botham, popularly known as 'Beefy' on the list of batsmen with the fastest fifties in England in Tests, by reaching the 50-run mark in just 31 balls.
While talking to the broadcasters, the right-arm quick revealed that all his teammates and players in the dressing room had been teasing him with the legendary English cricketer’s name after his heroics with the bat.
“I was not aware of it (breaking Ian Botham's record). But it's always good to score important runs for the team. Yes, these guys are teasing me with his name. But I think it's good to be compared with the greats of the game,” Thakur told Sony Sports after stumps on Day 1.
The right-hand batsman then talked about his 63-run partnership with tail-ender Umesh Yadav as the Mumbai-based cricketer decided to go for it after wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant’s dismissal.
“When Rishabh got out, it was important for me to play such an innings. There are two ways, either you can be patient and bank on the partner to score runs or go and hit it. But at the end of the day, you have to score the runs. I think there is no right way of scoring runs. Runs are runs. Today was a day where I could connect properly. So I kept going for the runs,” the right-arm quick opined.
Even though the tourists lost a few early wickets, the team managed to fight back to reach the final score of 191 runs. The 29-year-old then talked about the importance of these first innings runs as the fourth Test is in the balance.
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“Definitely, at one stage, we felt 150 or 170 as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. But 190 is a score, in the first innings, is going to count. Runs in the first innings are important and I think we have a chance.
I think this pitch is good for both batsmen and bowlers. If you keep pitching in the right areas, something is there in the pitch. But at the same time, the margin of error is less as the batsman can score runs,” the all-rounder concluded.
India after scoring 191 in the first innings, also managed to get three early wickets which also includes the big wicket of home captain Joe Root (21) as the scoreboard reads 53/3 at the end of Day 1 at The Oval.
