Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik questioned India’s think tank and captain Shubman Gill for under-utilising Shardul Thakur in the opening Test match against England. Thakur was preferred ahead of Nitish Kumar Reddy as a seam bowling all-rounder despite the latter impressing on the Australian tour.
The Mumbai all-rounder was dismissed after scoring a single run when he went for a booming drive but could only find an outside edge.
Surprisingly, Gill gave only six overs to Thakur, in which he conceded 38 runs and went wicketless in England’s first innings.
Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz, “The Shardul Thakur decision that Team India’s management needs to look at – If they are not going to trust his bowling, why are they playing him? That is definitely an issue. If you are not going to trust a bowler, why have you played him? I understand when you play four fast bowlers, you are not going to give equal opportunity for Shardul.”
“When he did bowl, he did not bowl very nicely, but to give six overs when you have bowled so much is not a great picture. I feel bad for Shardul but I can understand what a Shubman is thinking. He is able to create more pressure on England when the other bowlers are bowling.”
Karthik highlighted an incident when Gill asked Bumrah to bowl when Shardul Thakur was all set to bowl before tea on the third day.
“There was a very interesting incident, last over before tea, Shubman Gill brought Shardul Thakur to bowl. He removed his sweater and was about to bowl, but Gill saw Bumrah was okay to bowl. He (Gill) then told Shardul to please wait, I’ll give it to Bumrah,” said Karthik.
“And as Bumrah does, came in, bowled the one over and got the wicket of Chris Woakes. So, you can’t fault Gill because he looks at Bumrah as that generational fast bowler and his go-to man. When I need anything, it is Bumrah first and everybody else later.”
India ended the day’s play at 90-2, leading by 96.
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