A process has helped me score runs, it's not coincidence or stroke of luck, says Shardul Thakur

Shardul Thakur ’s knocks of 57 and 60 in the fourth Test against at the Oval was the main reason India were able to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Coming into the match after suffering an innings and 76 runs defeat in Leeds where the visitors were bowled out for 78 in the first innings, India needed a much-improved batting show in London to stay alive in the series. Having asked to bat first, India were reduced to 117-6 on Day 1 of the Oval Test when Thakur went into to bat. He soon had his partner Rishabh Pant depart with India reeling at 127-7. Thakur then played a game-changing innings, a quick-fire 57 off 36, that infused a new belief into the side. He repeated the heroics in the second innings with an invaluable knock of 60 off 72 and forged a 100-run partnership with Pant that allowed India to set a mammoth target of 368 for England. The visitors eventually won the Test by 157 runs. [caption id=“attachment_9933351” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Shardul Thakur scored 117 runs in two Test matches in England. AP[/caption] Even on the Australia tour, Thakur’s hard-fought 67 off 115 played a crucial role as India clinched the Brisbane Test to win the series. Thakur’s batting ability along with his swing bowling, which resulted in seven wickets from two matches in England at an average of 22 has added a new dimension to the Indian team, making them a more complete unit on overseas tours. Thakur has a First Class batting average of 17.39. His Tests runs have come at 38. The cricketer, in an interview with Indian Express, explained what helped him improve his batting, also revealing an advice he got from former India captain MS Dhoni. “Lower order-batsman contributing always helps, and there have been many instances where 40-50 runs make a huge difference. When I made my comeback in the Indian team, I practiced with our throw down specialists Raghu and Nuwan – they are very quick. Initially, I wasn’t able to play them. I tried to improve my footwork when I faced them and slowly-slowly my batting improved. The more I played them the more I got adjusted to the pace. Whatever runs I have scored so far, there has been a process that I have followed, it’s not a coincidence or stroke of luck,” he said. “There have been people from the Indian team management, Virat, Rohit, who kept on motivating me. They all said that whenever I bat, I should think the way batsman think. Once I was in Mahi bhai’s (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) room and holding his bat. He told me that my batting grip is too high and I need to hold it lower to get better control over the shot. Now I hold my bat there and it helps.” The Indian players have recently received a lot of flak on Twitter and from some former cricketers for not agreeing to play in the fifth Test at Manchester that was cancelled over COVID-19 fears . India’s junior physio Yogesh Parmar had tested positive for coronavirus a day before the match and players then decided to not play the match fearing they could contract the virus over the course of the Test. Earlier, head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar had tested positive for the virus and were already under isolation. Critics, however, say that Indian players took the decision not to play in the final Test with an eye on the IPL 2021 which restarts in UAE on 19 September. Thakur spoke about the fears that prevailed in the Indian dressing room at that time. “We were worried about what will happen, who will be infected since Parmar had treated everyone. We didn’t know how things would go ahead because tracking this infection is next to impossible. The next four-five days were vulnerable for us because there was fear that it could happen to me or it could happen to anyone. Everyone was worried about their and their family’s health.” Talking about India’s ability to pull off matches from difficult situations, Thakur said everyone in the team is ready to “put their body on the line” and the name of the opposition doesn’t matter to them.