3 days ago
6
Shardul Thakur in action© BCCI
Veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara lauded Lucknow Super Giants all-rounder Shardul Thakur for his surprise bouncer causing the hard-hitting Abhishek Sharma to be late on his shot and be dismissed early, which eventually set the tone for the visitors to get their first win of IPL 2025. At the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Thakur had Abhishek caught off his short ball at deep square leg and picked up 4-34, his best figures in the IPL, as a power-packed SRH batting line-up managed to score only 190/9.
In reply, Nicholas Pooran smashed a whirlwind 70 off just 26 balls as LSG chased down the target with 23 balls to spare. For now, Thakur, drafted in as an injury replacement by LSG after going unsold in the mega auction, is the leading wicket-taker in the competition.
"One is, he is looking to swing the ball. With the new ball, he is getting that shape into the left-handers and he's trying to mix it up with the yorkers. If you look at the previous deliveries, which Abhishek or Travis Head faced, he tried bowling yorkers - it was low full-tosses - but as a batter you are thinking, is it going to be a yorker or a back-of-a-length ball.
"And suddenly, he bowls a bumper, which could surprise a batter. And then you have less fraction of a second to execute your shot, and that's why I think Abhishek was late on his shot," said Pujara on ESPNCricinfo.
Nick Knight, the former England batter, also felt Thakur was spot on with his bowling plans in Hyderabad. "I call it bowling craft. When we were batters, we faced a lot of bowlers. The best bowlers we faced were often those who got their bowling craft. And bowling craft is when you're not expecting that particular ball."
"If Abhishek was waiting for that ball, (if) he knew it was going to be short, it was out of the park. But because he isn't quite sure if it's going to be full or is it going to swing, then you're a bit late on it and that's the difference between it going out of the park and getting caught. The bowling craft was spot on," he added.
Pujara further appreciated uncapped pacer Prince Yadav for being immaculate with his plans and ending with 1-29, including castling the dangerous Travis Head. "He had a clear game plan. He wanted to bowl yorkers and he wanted to mix it up with slower bouncers and bouncers. There was a clear game plan: he was not going to bowl a length ball or a back-of-a-length ball. "
"When you have that clarity, then comes the execution. I think his execution was spot on. There were times when he ended up bowling half-volleys, but still, I think those are good deliveries on that pitch. And he showed a lot of courage. You need courage to bowl those balls."
LSG, captained by Rishabh Pant, will look to build on their victory in Hyderabad when they take on Shreyas Iyer-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their first home game at the BRSABV Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on April 1.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
