Shardul’s scintillating innings of 57(36) was a joy to watch for all the cricket fans as he broke a record in the process. With a superb six over square leg, Shardul reached the fastest test 50 in England in just 31 balls. The Indian section of the crowd got on their feet and roared as Shardul pointed his bat in every direction of The Oval.
Shardul gives the sign of a storm coming
With a nice-looking pull shot while batting on 5 runs, Shardul began his counterattack. That shot immediately reminded everyone(at least the Indian fans) of his innings in Australia while he was batting alongside Washington Sundar. England perhaps underestimated Shardul and didn’t know of the grit and resilience that he had shown before.
Anyways, immediately after that pull shot came a shot along the ground on the front foot. The back-to-back fours from the blade of Shardul Thakur brought some relief to the Indian fans. In the next over itself, Shardul struck a huge six over the top of the bowler’s head. Perhaps this batting approach should have been employed by other Indian batsmen too who got out cheaply.
Again to the bowling of Woakes, Shardul hit a shot that left the commentators awestruck. He whacked a short of a length ball, outside the off stump, on the leg side along the ground, for four.
Thakur continues the attacking approach
In the 59th over, Shardul smashed a ball on the leg side for a huge six on the bowling of Woakes. The crowd was completely into the kind of batting display that Shardul was putting on. Thakur picked the length of the ball early and sent for a 79 meter six. And on the last delivery, as they say, fortune favors the brave and it did. Thakur went for yet another hard-hitting shot and the ball took a top edge. It went flying over the slips for a four. Thakur’s dominance left the English bowlers shocked as to which strategy should they apply now on this guy. Woakes gave a strange smile to his teammate after the over, as if saying, “We should have prepared for this guy, too.”
He was also dropped on 43 by Bairstow. But still, he didn’t stop the brutal attack and the dropped catch was followed by yet another shot muscled over the mid-off. With this shot, the 50-run partnership came up, and the Indian fans heaved a sigh of relief. The Indian team was fully enjoying the onslaught of an all-rounder who fared better than all the specialist batsmen in the team.
And there’s 50 on the board
On a ball that was banged in short, Shardul swiveled across and hammered it over square leg for an enormous six. The six soon was followed by a four on a ball that he hit on the rise.
Finally, England was able to get rid of their tormentor when Shardul missed a shot and the ball hit his back-thigh. England went for the review and the not-out decision was successfully overturned in their favor.
Lord Shardul Supremacy, everyone!!!
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