India vs West Indies: Shardul Thakur gets limited credit for his bowling, says Aakash Chopra

Shardul Thakur picked up four wickets in the deciding third ODI between India and West Indies in Trinidad. India went on to win the contest by a mammoth 200 runs and the series 2-1.

The batters, however, took the limelight with Ishan Kishan (77), Shubman Gill (85), Hardik Pandya (70*) and Sanju Samson (51) among the runs as India put together 351 runs. Kishan and Gill put together 143 runs in only 19.4 overs at the top of the order to all but snatch the game away from the hosts.

Chasing a whooping 352 runs, West Indies couldn’t quite get going in the manner of the second ODI. They struggled against the Indian bowling from the word go and were reduced to 50/6 by the 14th over. Alick Athanaze (32), Yannic Cariah (19), Alzarri Joseph (26) and Gudakesh Motie (39*) tried to provide a fight but the damage was already done.

Shardul Thakur: ‘I always play to help the team win, not seal a World Cup spot’

Shardul Thakur took four wickets and found support from Mukesh Kumar (3/30) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/25).

“In the previous match itself, Shardul took three wickets. He gets very limited credit for the way he bowls. I am trying to figure out how he takes so many wickets and why he is expensive, both things going hand-in-hand,” said former India cricketer Aakash Chopra on JioCinema.

For India, Thakur has the most wickets in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup. In the 32 games he’s featured in, the seamer has taken 48 wickets, two more than Kuldeep Yadav in the same number of matches.

If you are taking three wickets, the economy shouldn’t be much to worry about because 300 is going to be there as a target. He doesn’t give more than 6 runs per over, must be 6.1-6.2. The number of balls he bowls, the chances of him getting a wicket are very bright,” said Chopra.

“We say it’s wicket-taking luck, but if you closely observe Shardul, the reason why he has the wicket-taking luck is because he bowls in those areas and he has a lot of belief. If you ever ask him how good are you? He would answer: “equal to Dennis Lillee!”. That’s the confidence he has, and I love him for that,” he added.

The India tour of West Indies now shifts its attention to T20I matches. The five-match series gets underway on August 3.

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