With his incredible form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, Shardul Thakur has made a strong case for himself for the five-match Test series against England, scheduled to take place in June.
Indian pace bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has continued his sensational form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season as he picked a hat-trick of wickets for Mumbai during the match against Meghalaya at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground in Bandra Kurla Complex on Thursday, January 30.
Shardul Thakur has emerged as one of the star performers for Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. In the last match against Jammu and Kashmir, the 33-year-old scored a fifty and picked two wickets in the first innings and then played an innings of 119 off 135 balls in the second innings. However, Shardul Thakur’s efforts went in as Mumbai lost the match by five wickets after Jammu and Kashmir chased down a 207-run target on Day 3.
After Mumbai’s defeat against Jammu and Kashmir, the reigning Ranji Trophy champions were on the verge of early exit from the tournament and the match against Meghalaya was crucial to keep their hopes alive to defend the title. After opting to bowl first, Mumbai bowlers, especially Shardul Thakur gave a really hard time to Meghalaya in the first innings. In the third over, Thakur was brought into the attack and picked three wickets on the trot by dismissing B Anirudh, Sumit Kumar, and Jaskirat Sachdeva and all three players walked back to the dugout without scoring a single run.
Historic! 🔥
Shardul Thakur joins an elite club, becoming the 5th Mumbai bowler to take a hat-trick! 💪 | pic.twitter.com/QCU8QYhGro
— Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) (@MumbaiCricAssoc)
With Shardul Thakur’s hat-trick of wickets, Meghalaya were reduced from 2/1 to 5/2 in 3 overs. The pacer became the fifth Mumbai bowler after Jehagir Khot, Umesh Kulkarni, Abdul Ismail, and Royston Dias to take a hat-trick in the history of Ranji Trophy. After taking a hat-trick, Shardul Thakur picked the fourth wicket to register the figures of 4/43 at an economy rate of 3.90 in 11 overs as Meghalaya were bundled out for 86 in the first innings.
With his maiden hat-trick of wickets in Ranji Trophy, Shardul Thakur has sent out a strong message to the BCCI selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar and Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir. Shardul’s last appearance for Team India was in the ODI match against Bangladesh in October 2023. Thereafter, he was not picked into the India squad across all formats of the game.
Shardul Thakur was not included in the India squad for the Test series against Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Australia. For the Test tour of Australia, the Mumbai pacer was surprisingly excluded from the squad despite his experience of playing on the Australian soil as the BCCI selectors and Gautam Gambhir picked Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
With his incredible form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, Shardul Thakur has made a strong case for himself for the five-match Test series against England, scheduled to take place in June. In the Ranji Trophy 2024/25, Shardul Thakur has picked 20 wickets, including two 4-wicket hauls, at an average of 26.35 and an economy rate of 3.22 in 13 innings so far. With the bat, Thakur has amassed 297 runs, including a century and two fifties, at an average of 42.42 in seven innings.