India vs Australia: ‘The idea was to spend some time in the middle’ – Shardul Thakur opens up on century stand with Washinton Sundar

India continued their show of grit and resilience as they look to breach fortress Gabba in the fourth encounter. And this time around it were the youngsters who came with a brilliant show of India’s steely determination. After losing their most experienced duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane early in the day, the visitors were struggling at 186 for six wickets. It is then young Shardul Thakur joined debutant Washington Sundar in the middle.

Both the batsmen were playing their maiden Test knock. And went on to stitch a partnership of 123 runs to steady the ship for India in the crucial encounter. Thakur and Sundar battled off the fierce Aussie attack as they brought up their maiden Test half-centuries. Thakur, the rookie fast bowler, hailed the experience of A tours as the reason behind their success. He feels that these tours make the transition to international cricket smooth.

“A-Tours are meant to give experience to your second lineup. It has helped a lot, we were here in 2016 and we played at the Allan Border Field. We played four-day games there, pitch there is different, but at least you are used to Australian conditions. When you take that leap from India A to the senior side, the transition is not that difficult. It is all about how you execute at the senior level,” said Shardul during the post-match press conference.

Both of us have that temperament

Thakur, who always longed to showcase his skills with the bat, finally got the opportunity and he grabbed it with both hands. During his 67 runs, he hit some outrageous shots which even had the greats of the game admiring it. The Mumbai pacer shares that the idea was to spend some time in the middle. And once the duo had the bowlers tired with their disciplined approach, they saw the chink in the opposition’s armour.

“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 added.

Thakur also credited coach Ravi Shastri for his advice before the series. “The crowd was cheering for Australian bowlers, they were on top at that point of time. But I remember our coach Mr Ravi Shastri saying right at the start of the series. He said – if you perform in this country, you will be rewarded and people will love you for your performances. And that one thing was also on my mind. ‘Okay if I perform here then people are also going to love me’.”

Thakur adds that as they spent some time in the middle they got to understand the bounce of the wicket better. And with the series on the line, both batters gave it their everything to hang in there a bit longer. Thakur, who was playing only his second Test, shares that the Aussies tried to strike a conversation with him. And even might have tried to sledge him but he didn’t let the verbal volleys get to his concentration.

“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 1-1, 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.“

“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.

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