India pacer Shardul Thakur who scored half centuries in both innings of the fourth Test played an important role in the visitors’ epic 157-run win over England at The Oval in London for the first time after 1971.
India opener Rohit Sharma bagged his Man of the Match award for scoring his maiden overseas century (127 runs) which brought the tourists back in the game from being 99-run behind at the beginning of the second innings.
Many fans and experts including Rohit Sharma himself thought Shardul Thakur deserved to be named Man of the Match for his crucial 57(36) in the first innings which saved India from getting bowled out below 150 to getting a respectable 191 runs on the board.
Former Australia cricketer Brad Hogg also believed that the right-arm quick deserved to be the Man of the Match, took to Twitter to explain his point of view behind this thought.
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The former Aussie spinner pointed out that Shardul didn’t only contribute with the bat but was good with the ball as well as he picked two wickets in the second innings of the fourth Test which included the big wicket of in-form English captain Joe Root.
“57 in the 1st inns when the wicket was toughest. Fifty in the 2nd inns. Pope's wicket preventing bigger 1st inns lead for England. Breaking the 100 run opening p'ship. Dismissing Root in the 2nd inns. Thakur the Man of the Match easily. 5 big game-changing moments,” Hogg tweeted.
57 in the 1st inns when the wicket was toughest. Fifty in the 2nd inns. Pope's wicket preventing a bigger 1st inns lead for England. Breaking the 100 run opening p'ship. Dismissing Root in the 2nd inns. Thakur the Man of the Match easily. 5 big game-changing moments. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/UoNEmX2rl6
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) September 7, 2021
Thus, with India securing an unbeatable 2-1 lead in this five-match Test series with only one match to go, it will be interesting to see whether hosts manage to replicate their performance at Leeds and level the series once again or the tourists win another Test series in England for the first time after 2007.
