da pinup bet： He did it on Thursday. He did it on Friday too. This time he got to triple digits with shots all around the park, and celebrated in style after what’s been a tough cricketing period for him
da bwin： Vishal Dikshit24-Jan-2025Shardul Thakur likes batting in difficult situations. He had said as much on Thursday, after he had put together 51 off 57 after coming in with Mumbai 42 for 6 against Jammu & Kashmir. On Friday, he took the rescue act up a notch, delivering an unbeaten century at almost a run a ball having come in at 91 for 6, with Mumbai leading by just five runs.All this when the recent past has not been kind to him. Shardul the allrounder was a regular in and around the India set-up at the end of 2023 before a foot surgery kept him out for more than half of 2024, and he hasn’t found a way back in since. Even though he has added consistency to his batting: four of his 14 first-class half-centuries and both his centuries have come in the last two domestic seasons. And much of this has been crisis batting, including 109 off 105 from 106 for 7 against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy semi-final last season, followed by 75 off 69 from 111 for 6 against Vidarbha to set up the title win.And he went unsold at the mega auction ahead of the IPL 2025 season. “You have to forget whatever has happened in the past,” he had said on Thursday. It is perhaps this practicality that helps him stay in the present when he walks out to bat in tough situations.Related
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Shardul Thakur on his rescue act: 'I like batting in difficult situations'
What worked in his favour on Friday was that the ball was more than 25 overs old when he came out, and had lost all its swing. So, when he saw width on offer, he didn’t shy away from slashing over the infield on the off side. When the fast bowlers pitched it short, he middled his pulls. And the shots kept coming.First ball after tea, when Mumbai were 174 for 7, Thakur punched Umar Nazir Malik through the off side for four and, three balls later, pulled a short ball to the boundary. In the next over he swept left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq for another four to get to a 59-ball half-century. What did slow him down a bit was cramps; he had to call out the physio a couple of times after he crossed 50 and was clearly struggling between the wickets.The worst of it seemed to have passed by the time he got into the seventies, and his strokes reflected that. He pounced on fast bowler Yudhvir Singh outside off on 80 with such timing that he made it look like he was picking the length against a spinner. Two balls later, he clobbered Yudhvir over the covers with disdain to take the lead past 150 in style. On 94, he hooked Auqib Nabi and got a leading edge, but also four more. He was on 98, his team was still not on top of the game with the lead only 162, but Thakur kept going for it. He lofted the next ball straight down the ground, didn’t middle it at all, but it landed just beyond mid-off’s reach.
When Shardul Thakur saw width on offer, he didn’t shy away from slashing over the infield on the off side. When the fast bowlers pitched it short, he middled his pulls. And the shots kept coming.
Next over, against Mushtaq, he brought out the sweep on 99 and got the run that cued telling celebrations: he ran at speed (what cramps?) with his bat held high, punched the air, let out a scream, and pointed to the sky. It showed what the knock meant to him.The Mumbai dressing room, which had been dour and gloomy for most of the day, broke into rapturous applause, acknowledging a rare feat from a No. 8: Thakur was only the 13th player to score a fifty and a hundred in the same first-class match batting at No. 8 or lower since 2006.The J&K bowlers knew the pitch had nothing to offer now and they started peppering him with short balls. He took a blow on his chest near the left shoulder, got some ice treatment on the field, and still went on. He ramped Nabi’s short ball over the keeper for four, and eventually walked back unbeaten on 113 off 119 with Tanush Kotian – again, his support act from the semi-final last season – for company on 58 off 119.It was another Thakur knock that will go down as one that saved Mumbai’s blushes, even putting them a little in front after they’d been far behind. Maybe it will serve Thakur well to remember these bits of the past.