Former England skipper Michael Vaughan was flabbergasted that Shardul Thakur wasn’t named Man of the Match in the Oval Test as India won by 157 runs and took a 2-1 lead in the series.
Rohit Sharma was adjudged the Player of the match for scoring 127 runs in the second innings.
Meanwhile, Shardul Thakur scored a blistering knock of 57 runs off 36 balls when India was teetering at 127-7 in the first innings and his knock helped the team in posting 191 runs on the board. Subsequently, Thakur dismissed Ollie Pope, who top-scored for England with a fine knock of 81 runs, in the first innings.
The all-rounder once again made a contribution with the bat as he scored 60 runs in the second innings when Virat Kohli was dismissed and India was still not in the position of assurance.
The swing fast bowler then got rid of Rory Burns with a jaffa and also got the big wicket of Joe Root in the second innings. Thus, Thakur made a huge impact on the game and played a key role in the team’s win.
“Ahh, he should have got Man of the Match. No question. Rohit played great but Shardul Thakur impacted the game four times – twice with the bat and twice with the ball.
Key wickets, that massive wicket of Ollie Pope (in the first innings), and then (in the second innings) Rory Burns first and then the captain. Two fifties – [India were] 117-7, he changed the course of the game in the first innings. Under pressure in the second innings, he went in and got another fifty. I am staggered he wasn’t Man of the Match,” Vaughan said in an interaction with Cricbuzz after the match.
On the other hand, the Indian captain Virat Kohli had also heaped praise on Shardul Thakur. Kohli added that Thakur made a big impact on the game and what he has done will be remembered for a long time.
“What Shardul has done in this game will be remembered for a long time. His fifty was the difference between a 150-160 run lead and a 100-run lead. His two fifties deflated the opposition. His counterattack in the second innings made a lot of difference. We thought they would restrict us to a reasonable total when I got out, but he changed it,” said Kohli.
The fifth Test match will be played at Old Trafford, Manchester from September 10.
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