I wanted to make an impact with the bat: Shardul Thakur

India’s rising all-rounder Shardul Thakur has said he wanted to make an impact with the bat and thus worked hard on his batting. Thakur has impressed in his young career and has played two crucial matches in India’s two overseas Test wins. The right-hander had played an imperative knock of 67 runs in the first innings of Gabba Test and had added a fine alliance with Washington Sundar.

Thakur then played an important knock of 57 runs in the Oval Test match when India were teetering at 127-7 and he helped the team in posting 191 runs on the board. The right-hander played attacking shots and kept India in the game. Subsequently, Thakur played another vital knock of 60 runs in the second innings and took his team to a formidable position.

Shardul Thakur said while talking to Indian Express, “When I injured my ankle two years ago, it was decided that I need to take my batting seriously. I had the ability in me and going ahead I wanted to contribute in the lower order. I told myself, kuch bhi ho jaye, batting mein acha karna he padega. In the past, there were opportunities which came with the bat too but somehow, I couldn’t make an impact. I told myself ‘aisa nahi chalega.’”

“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.”

Thakur added he doesn’t think a lot while going out to bat and tries to keep things simple and not complicate them. The right-hander has a ‘see the ball, hit the ball’ approach, which has paid dividends for him. The Mumbai player stated he tries to play in the V.

“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 batsmen think.”

“I don’t think too much when I walk out to bat. I just keep things simple. Since my school days, my coach (Dinesh) Lad sir used to tell me that the more we think, the more things get complicated. So just try to play straight. For the past five years I have tried to simplify my batting. There are small things I want to follow, like try to be in good position when I’m playing my shot. The more one plays straight, going ahead in the innings, playing cross batted shots become easier.”

Thakur will be seen playing for Chennai Super Kings in the upcoming IPL.