Team India found a player in Nitish Kumar Reddy on their recent tour of Australia whom they can bank on to perform as an all-rounder going forward. But with the ball, he is still a work in progress and against Australia, India also struggled to find a solid number eight batter, where they missed a player like Shardul Thakur.
The man is nowhere close to the international team across formats, and it is very surprising. He was the player who scored vital runs down the order especially away from home for India whenever the batting line-up failed. His knocks in England and Australia, especially at the Gabba in 2021 are still fondly remembered. He sent a timely reminder to the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel with a similar performance on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy clash between Mumbai and Jammu and Kashmir.
Thakur saved Mumbai from massive embarrassment as the 43-time winners were reduced to 47/7 against Jammu and Kashmir despite a host of international stars including Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal playing for the team. He smashed a quickfire half-century to propel the team's score to 120 in the first innings. He then came back and bowled 13 overs picking up Abdul Samad's wicket just when he was looking good on 19 runs.
"What can I talk about my quality? Others should talk about it. They should see that if someone has quality, he should be given more chances. I like batting in difficult situations. In easy situations, everyone does well, but how you put up the show in adverse situations matters. I see tough situations as a challenge and always think about how to overcome that challenge," Thakur said after the end of the day's play.