Indian great Ravichandran Ashwin has stepped up to back Shardul Thakur after his underperformance in the Leeds Test. He openly criticized Shubman Gill, as it took him 39 overs to hand Shardul the ball in the first innings.
Even after handing the ball so late to the fourth Indian seamer, he was given two spells that comprised just 3 overs each, as Shardul Thakur just bowled 6 overs in the first innings at Headingley. The gap between the two spells was 22 overs; he ended the innings having bowled just 6 overs, giving away just 36 runs without a wicket.
The same saga continued in the second innings as well, when, until the 19th over of the match, Shubman didn't think of handing the ball to Shardul Thakur. Though India struggled on the last day of play, Shardul, who picked up two wickets in the game, bowled only 10 overs in the second innings and finished with the figures of 10-0-51-2.
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Ashwin referred to Joe Root's batting at Headingley and remarked that if Jasprit Bumrah did not seem effective, the right time to bring in Shardul Thakur was when Joe Root arrived at the crease after two back-to-back wickets from Prasidh Krishna. Shardul has a great record against England veteran Joe Root, having dismissed him twice in England.
India bowled a total of 182.4 at Leeds, as the England batting side went on to score 465 runs in the first innings and were stunning in a record 371-run chase in the second innings of play. Across the two innings, Shardul bowled just 16 overs, which did not seem even 10 percent of the total overs bowled.
"You have taken Shardul Thakur in the team and didn't give him a ball in the first 40 overs. And Joe Root was batting. And Shardul has a very decent match-up against Joe Root. So, if Shardul Thakur's role is not less, then I genuinely rate Shardul as a cricketer," Ashwin remarked on his YouTube channel.
"He has caught Ben Duckett and Harry Brook. He can make things happen. But he has to use them at the right time. But if this is going to be the way he is going to be used, I don't think he is really making any sense. Because he has to be given the ball for him to make a difference. He didn't bowl that much in the first 40 overs."
"He didn't bowl that much in the second innings either. Obviously, much more than the first innings. So, his role was very limited and I think it is very unfair to raise an argument on what he did," Ashwin added.
Shardul Thakur's stats in England in Tests
Shardul Thakur, who has never been in the role of frontline Test pacer, has made a significant impact for Team India.
Shardul has played in 11 Tests for India, making his debut back in 2018 against the West Indies. Shardul has scored 331 runs with a batting average of 19.47 alongside his 4 half-centuries, while he has also picked 31 wickets.
He has a respectable average of bowling a minimum of 13 overs in his test career per innings, as he has delivered 16 percent of India's total overs in test cricket. In those matches, Indian bowlers claimed 187 Test wickets, of which Thakur's 31 wickets contributed to 17 percent of the total wickets.
Shardul Thakur has bowled in 5 Test matches in England, and they have picked up 12 wickets in those games. Shardul has batted in most matches outside India, where England is his favourite opposition. As the batter scored 178 runs, averaging 19.77, three of his four fifties came on English soil.
Shardul Thakur was back in the Indian side post a successful domestic season and IPL
Shardul Thakur last played a test back in India's tour to South Africa for the test series. He played the match at Centurion back in 2023, post which Shardul was no more a part of the Indian side.
After being initially unsold in the IPL 2025 auction, he was later added to the Lucknow Super Giants squad as a replacement for injured Mohsin Khan. Shardul bowled stunningly as a pacer in the LSG deck, as he fit into the role with wickets with the new ball as well as crunch economical overs at the death.
Shardul played 10 games for LSG in IPL 2025 and picked up 13 wickets, though later in the last few games, his economy was given a jolt by the big-hitting batters. Shardul Thakur's commanding form with both bat and ball in the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai was also one of the trump cards for his selection into the Indian Test side.
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