Dinesh Lad, the childhood coach of Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur has said that the latter can fit in as an all-rounder in India’s playing eleven for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand from June 18 in Southampton, England.
Notably, the pacer stunned everyone with his 115-ball 67 against Australia at the iconic Gabba in January this. Not only did he hit a magnificent cover drive off Mitchell Starc, the 29-year-old partnered with Washington Sundar for 123 runs. The stand pulled India from 186 for 6 to 336 all-out, just 33 shorts of Australia’s 1st innings total.
With the ball, Shardul Thakur dimissed Marcus Harris, Tim Paine and Pat Cummins in the first innings. In the 2nd innings he got rid of Cameron Green, Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon as India sealed a memorable 2-1 series win Down Under.
Dinesh Lad has added that Shardul could in future get prefence as India’s seam bowling all-rounder as Hardik Pandya, the first choice for the role had not been bowling lately due to injury concerns.
“As a coach, I would want Shardul to be given preference in the WTC final based on how he has been performing of late. He can swing both the ball and bat, and it will be a plus point for India to let Shardul fill that all-rounder’s role. But again, everything depends on the team management and coaches.
“He will definitely get preference in the long run because India are currently lacking in all-rounders. Hardik Pandya was playing as an all-rounder but now he is not able to bowl because of injury. Teams need fast-bowling all-rounders and there is only Shardul Thakur in the queue. But in order to perform well, he needs to get a long run of matches,” Dinesh Lad told Sportskeeda.
Shardul Thakur, ahead of the England tour, has done a few batting sessions with Lad and the prime focus during the drill was to work on the 29-year-old’s patience. Dinesh Lad, said that Shardul, an attacking batsman like Rohit Sharma, has also started playing grounded shots now.
“He did a few batting sessions with me during the off season. Like Rohit, Shardul is also a naturally attacking player. But he has worked on his patience and now started playing shots along the ground as well,” Dinesh Lad concluded.
