Shardul Thakur Biography | Career | Controversy | Stats

Shardul Thakur Biography: Shardul Thakur is one of the best examples of a player who could go to any extent to achieve his dream. Many may not aware of a fatty, struggled, being trolled Thakur in his early cricket career life.

Yes, Shardul Thakur weighs nearly 83 kilos when he first appeared for the Mumbai team, where he struggled to prove his worth as a bowler. Following his favourite cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar’s advice he cut down a massive 13 kilos and proves his worth with the ball in the followed Ranji season.

Thakur’s talents gradually improved when he starts to play for CSK in IPL. As of many cricketers, Thakur’s worth has been brought to the spotlight by former Indian skipper MS Dhoni.

In recent international outings, particularly in Test format, Thakur performs well with both bat and ball.

In September 2021, Thakur was named as one of three reserve players in India’s squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Shardul Thakur Biography – Short Overview

Shardul Thakur Family

• Shardul Thakur was born to Narendra Thakur and Hansa Thakur in the small town of Palgarh, about a hundred kilometers from Mumbai.
• As there were no schools in Palghar that played cricket with the season ball, Shardul along with his family shifted to Boisar, just to play cricket with season ball in T.V.M. School Boisar.
• Earlier in his school cricket, he hit 6 sixes from 6 balls in an over while representing Swami Vivekanand International School, Borivali.

Shardul Thakur Career

Every cricketer’s dream comes true when they receive their first debut call from their national team. In Indian cricket, the BCCI will call out for the best performing player in their domestic matches or list A matches.

Thus one has to prove himself in the Indian domestic cricket tournaments in order to make their way to appear for the national team.

Domestic Career

• In November 2012, he made his first-class debut for Mumbai against Rajasthan at Jaipur in the 2012–13 Ranji Trophy.
• Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy in his debut season of 2012-13, but he did not play a major role in the triumph, picking up only four wickets in four matches at an average of 82.
• He weighed 83 kg, which is considered as overweight for someone of his height and his fitness was no way close to that of an athlete. At the end of the season, Mumbai team management asked him to lose some kilos.
• In the next season in 2013, he shed 13 kgs and returned to play for Mumbai.
• In the 2013–14 Ranji season, he took 27 wickets at 26.25 from six games, with one five-wicket haul.
• In the 2014-15 Ranji season, he took 48 wickets at 20.81 from ten games with five-wicket hauls.
• He made his List A debut on 27 February 2014, for Mumbai in the 2013–14 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
• In the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy final, he took eight wickets against Saurashtra and led Mumbai to win its 41st Ranji Trophy title.

International Career

Test

• Shardul Thakur was named in India’s 16-man squad for India’s Test tour of West Indies in 2016, but he did not play.
• In May 2018, he was named in India’s Test squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in June 2018 but did not play.
• In October 2018, he made his Test debut against the West Indies, making him the 294th player to represent Team India in Tests.
• His debut ended after bowling just 10 deliveries due to suffering from a groin strain in his right leg.
• In January 2021, he scored his maiden test fifty, a crucial one, in the first innings of the fourth test match at Brisbane against Australia in 2020/2021 India Tour of Australia.

• In the fourth test against England in September 2021, he scored 57 in 36 balls in India’s first innings, which is the fastest fifty in Test cricket in England and the second fastest overall for India in Test cricket.
• In the second innings, he scored 60 in 72 balls to help India post 466 all out. He also took 3 crucial wickets in the Match.

ODI

• In August 2017, he was named in India’s limited-overs squad for the series against Sri Lanka.
• He made his One Day International (ODI) debut on 31 August 2017 against Sri Lanka.

T20I

• Shardul Thakur made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for India against South Africa on 21 February 2018 and took and took 1/31 in 4 overs.
• In March 2018, he was selected to play in the 2018 Nidahas Trophy.
• In a match against Sri Lanka, he took a career-best 4-27 to bring the game back to India’s favour, winning the Man Of the Match award.
• He finished with 6 wickets from 5 matches at an average of 29.33.

Indian Premier League(IPL) Career

• Kings XI Punjab signed him for INR 20 Lakh at the 2014 IPL auctions but didn’t play him
  till 2015.
• Thakur made his debut against Delhi Daredevils where he took one for 38 in his 4 overs.
• After an unimpressive campaign, he was released by KXIP.
• In March 2017, he was acquired by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the tenth season of the IPL.
• In January 2018, he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings in the List of 2018 Indian Premier League personnel changes.

• In 2018 he has taken a total of 24 wickets in 23 matches and has been used in the death overs as well.
• Shardul Thakur continues to play for CSK and becomes a key player for the Chennai-based franchise.
• Ahead of IPL 2022 Mega Auction, CSK might keen to bag Thakur to reconstruct the future core of the team.

Shardul Thakur Controversy

• He became the second Indian cricketer to wear the number 10 jersey after Sachin Tendulkar, which raised various controversial comments on social media. Later, he changed his jersey number to 54 due to controversy.

Shardul Thakur Unknown facts

• Shardul Thakur is great friends with fellow Mumbai batsman, Siddhesh Lad and was coached by his father, Dinesh Lad.
• Thakur got training under none other than mercurial fast bowler Glenn McGrath which helped him refine his skills even better.
• Shardul Thakur is a handy lower-order batsman with 6 first-class half-centuries and a highest score of 87.
• He loves to play Football and Badminton.
• He loves to have seafood.

Shardul Thakur Career Summary

Batting

Bowling

Did Shardul Thakur hit 6 Sixes in an over?

Shardul Thakur slammed six sixes in a single over for Swami Vivekanand School against S Radhakrishnan School in the Plate Division Harris Shield. Thakur made 160 off 73 balls in that match.