Shardul Thakur, Indian pacer revealed the motivational words that he got from head coach Ravi Shastri before he went out to bat on Day 3 of the Brisbane Test against Australia on Sunday.
Shardul Thakur scored his maiden Test fifty and stitched a record-breaking 123-run partnership for the 7th wicket with off-spinner Washington Sundar (62) to help India recover from 186 for 6 to 309 for 7 before getting out for 67 off 115 balls.
Shsrdul Thakur Reveals Ravi Shastri Told Him To Perform In Australia So That Crowd Will Love Him And Will Also Help India
Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar’s partnership was the highest for India for the 7th wicket at the Gabba. He later revealed what head coach Ravi Shastri told him before his heroic knock.
“When I came to the middle, crowd was cheering Australian bowlers then I remembered what Ravi Shastri told, he said when you perform in Australia they will love you. That is the one which was in my mind and it will also help India,” Shardul Thakur told reporters after the day’s play.
Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar’s knocks helped India reduce the first innings deficit with Australia as India posted 336, trailing by 33 runs to Australia’s first innings.
“Both of us have that temperament to succeed at this level, honestly we were not looking at the scoreboard, the idea was to spend some time in the middle. We knew their bowlers were tiring, it was a matter of one hour, if we hung in there for one more hour then probably we would be on the top as the bowlers were already tiring.
“Both of us were communicating really well in the middle, if someone was losing control or trying a rash shot, we were immediately communicating that let’s get back to normal,” he said.
Further talking about the 123-run stand with Sundar, Shardul Thakur said: “We were trying to defend a lot, as our partnership went on, we know there is some true bounce here at Gabba, we were just waiting for our chance, whenever there was a loose delivery, we were trying to put that away.
“It is a long tour, as a player, it is challenging to stay motivated and do well in the last game, the series is tied at this game turns out to be the series decider so you do not need extra motivation, it is about giving 100 per cent for the team.”
The earlier record for the highest seventh-wicket stand in Brisbane by India was set in 1991 by Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar. This also happens to be the third-highest 100-plus seventh-wicket partnership for India in Australia after Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja’s 204 in Sydney 2018-19 and 132 by Vijay Hazare and Hemu Adhikari in Adelaide 1947-48.
Washington Sundar became only the second Indian player to hit fifty and take three-plus wickets on debut after Dattu Phadkar (51 & 3/14 vs Australia in Sydney 1947-48). The 21-year-old all-rounder from Chennai is now also the third-highest scorer (62 runs) among all India number sevens on debut after Rahul Dravid’s 95 against England in Lord’s in 1996 and Bapu Nadkarni’s unbeaten 68 vs New Zealand in Delhi in 1955.
Shardul Thakur: Australian Players Were Trying To Sledge But Wasn’t Replying
Shardul Thakur also revealed that Australian players were trying to get under his skin by sledging him but he hardly paid notice to their tactics.
“Australian players were trying to have a conversation with me, but I was not replying. I just replied once or twice, there were a lot of normal questions, even if they were trying to sledge me, I did not hear it, I just played on,” he added.
Australia reached stumps at 21 without loss, an overall lead of 54. David Warner was unbeaten on 20. The series is level at 1-1 with two days remaining and it appears that India are on track to at least force another draw that would ensure that they retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
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