Shardul Thakur had a match to remember in the second T20I against Sri Lanka, picking up three wickets. His pace, variations and his line and lengths meant that the visitors were unable to navigate his spells. He was rewarded in the final over of his spell where he picked up two wickets in the space of two balls to peg back the Sri Lankans.
However, it should be remembered that Thakur will not walk into the Pune T20I with a possible hat-trick up for grabs. If he does get a wicket off the first ball he bowls in the third T20I, it will not count as a hat-trick as the wickets taken over two separate matches are not counted together.
The Man of the Match ended with figures of 3 for 23 in his four overs, and stated after the game, “Pitch was good to bat on, they tried to play a lot of shots but it didn’t come off. They swing their bat, if you keep bowling just one length, they will come at you, so varying your length was the key. If I’ve bowled a few good deliveries, the knuckleball is a good variation. That’s when I decide whether I do that or bowl a yorker/short ball. This format demands you to bowl one-two over spells, you have to be ready.”
Navdeep Saini, at the other end, too chipped in with two wickets as they helped the Lankans to 142 for 9 in 20 overs. The Indians were never challenged in the run chase as KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer ensured that the target was breached without breaking into a sweat.
“I feel T20 is such a short format, there are always going to be ups and downs. The more you play, the more experienced you get and you keep learning. Whereas first-class and Test cricket are formats where you have time to think about your game but in T20 you don’t have that time,” Thakur further added after the match.