India was on the verge of yet another batting collapse in the fourth Test at Oval, after they were invited to bat by Joe Root, but Shardul Thakur played a brilliant knock of 57 off 36 balls to bail India out of yet another embarrassment.
The tourists were 127/7 when they lost Rishabh Pant who was also the last recognized batsman from this Indian XI and it looked like yet another low score for the visitors, but Thakur hit an amazing half-century, which beat Sir Ian Botham’s record of fastest fifty on English soil ensured that the visitors reach 191 in their first innings.
ENG v IND 2021: It was worth the wait- Chris Woakes on his stunning comeback in 4th Test
Former India cricketer Zaheer Khan who was extremely impressed with the Mumbai-based cricketer for his heroics with the bat lauded the 29-year-old in the latest edition of ‘Cricbuzz Chatter’.
“We saw some different kind of batting, witnessing one of the fastest fifty's by Thakur. It was a proper counter-attacking knock from him. He did what we were expecting Pant would do. Brilliant counter-attacking shots all over the ground. Courtesy of a really good knock from Thakur, India has ended the day on a high,” Khan said.
“We saw in Headingley that after a batting collapse, the bowlers can't always rescue the team from dire situations. Today, thanks to Thakur's knock, India had something to bowl at and it helped the Indian bowlers to stay in the game,” the left-arm quick added.
Even though KL Rahul (17), Rohit Sharma(11), Cheteshwar Pujara(4), Ajinkya Rahane(14) failed to trouble the scorers, it was the right-arm quick’s counter attack which took India to a respectable total of 191 runs.
The left-arm quick then backed the explosive wicket-keeper batsman to come good in the upcoming matches citing the southpaw has only played 25 Test matches in his career with a decent average of 39.45.
ENG v IND 2021: Perform by hook or crook, Shardul Thakur after his record-breaking fifty in 4th Test
"Pant has played just about 25 Test matches so far but his average is right up there. The way Pant has played and the role was given to him, his approach is understandable. Things might not always go your way when you're counter attacking but we should remember that he's trusted to play that role. If the side is happy with him, there shouldn't be any issues around him.
We have to accept that he might have a few failures but he's shown that when he plays a successful counter-attacking knock, he converts it into a big hundred. That's why his average is so good. He's scored big runs at the Oval before and hopefully can do that in the second innings," Khan concluded
Thus, with India ending Day one on a high by picking three English wickets which also includes the big wicket of in-form England skipper Joe Root (21) as the scoreboard reads 53/3, it will be exciting to see how Virat and Co. go about in this Test match with the five-match series well poised at 1-1.
