da imperador bet： Thakur struck with both the new ball and old one to restrict SRH to 190 for 9 in Hyderabad
da esoccer bet： ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2025
Shardul Thakur celebrates a wicket with Ravi Bishnoi•Associated Press
Shardul Thakur had gone unsold at the auction before IPL 2025. He was preparing to turn up for Essex in seven County Championship games during April and May. But in the lead-up to IPL 2025, his plans changed when Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) approached him to be an injury replacement. Thakur slotted into LSG’s side immediately and is currently the leading wicket-taker this season, with six strikes in two games at an average of 8.83 and an identical economy rate.After collecting the Purple Cap on Thursday, Thakur revealed that other franchises had also approached him ahead of the new season, but the first call had come from Zaheer Khan, LSG’s mentor.”See, I feel all these things keep happening in cricket,” Thakur told the host broadcaster at the break after helping LSG keep Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to 190 for 9. “It was just one bad day in the auction, I didn’t get picked by any of the franchises. But, unfortunately, a few injuries here and there, there were a few inquiries whether I could join the camp. But LSG was the one who approached me first, so I had to give them preference, and even closely working with Zaheer Khan, he gave me a call. And it was always on the cards, I had to accept it.Related
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“And, like I always say, skills are always there, talent is always there. It’s just about the form and bad days – you have to go through it in cricket.”After winning the Player-of-the-Match award later in the night, Thakur said that he got to know of his potential IPL return around the time of the Ranji Trophy knockouts. Thakur was in fine form in the Ranji Trophy, taking 35 wickets in nine games to go with crucial contributions with the bat down the order.”While we were playing Ranji Trophy knockouts, Zaheer Khan made a call and he said we are looking at you as a potential replacement,” Thakur said. “So [he said] don’t switch yourself off and keep your plans ready. Probably if you come in as a replacement, you will start. That was the day I started to get into the IPL mindset again and the hopes came back.”Thakur will no longer join Essex and will stay with LSG until the end of their IPL 2025 campaign. He was picked as a replacement for left-arm quick Mohsin Khan, who had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on his right knee on December 31 while playing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.Thakur came away with career-best IPL figures of 4 for 34 on Thursday and along the way, he reached 100 IPL wickets. “It’s always good to be in the score sheet, but yeah, winning the game is important for me,” Thakur said. “I’ll keep doing something or the other, that’s my attitude. I don’t much look at the wicket column or the runs column, but to create an impact in the game, to create match-winning performances, that’s what I look at.”1:28
What makes Shardul Thakur effective?
Thakur made early inroads into the big-hitting SRH line-up, taking out Abhishek Sharma (6) and Ishan Kishan (0) off back-to-back deliveries in his second over before dismissing Abhinav Manohar and Mohammed Shami in the end overs. What was Thakur’s plan against a line-up that had almost smashed their own IPL record during the weekend, when they piled up 286 for 6 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the same venue?”I think they [SRH batters] are coming hard at bowlers and why not bowlers go hard at them? So the talk was around what the plan should be and we collectively said let’s go hard at them, let’s take our chances,” Thakur said. “If we get early wickets then we are in the game because they have been scoring heavily on this ground on flat pitches and probably we had to take our chances and today I think initially it fell in our pockets.”Mitchell Marsh, who had played his part in LSG’s successful chase with a half-century, lauded Thakur for setting up their first win this season. “Shardul bowled outstandingly, set the tone for us early,” he said at his post-match press conference. “Shardul showed his experience against those guys [Travis Head and Abhishek] and then bowled really well towards the back end.”
