Shardul Thakur concedes worst bowling figures in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, after going unsold in IPL auction
Shardul Thakur, who recently went unsold in IPL auction, has conceded the worst bowling figures in the history of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Things are going from bad to worse when it comes to India all-rounder Shardul Thakur. Days after going unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the 33-year-old has now registered the worst bowling figures in the history of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In the match against Kerala at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Shardul conceded 69 runs and took just one wicket.
This is now the joint expensive spell bowled by any bowler in the history of the T20 competition. Just a couple of days back, Ramesh Rahul of Arunachal Pradesh had leaked the same number of runs.
The previous record was held by Hyderabad’s Pagadala Naidu (1/67) against Mumbai in 2010. Speaking about the match between Kerala and Mumbai, the Sanju Samson-led side won the contest by 43 runs.
Kerala first posted 234/5 in the allotted twenty overs, owing to a 99-run knock by Salman Nizar and an 87-run knock by Rohan Kunnummal. Mumbai was then restricted to 191/9 and hence Kerala won the contest quite comprehensively.
Coming back to Shardul Thakur, who is currently making a comeback from an injury, had gone unsold in the recently held IPL mega auction. The premier India all-rounder did not find any takers.
Over the last three years, Shardul's performance has dipped in the IPL. For CSK, he just played nine games in 2024, picking up just five wickets at an underwhelming average of 61.80 from nine games.
Indian management moves on from Shardul Thakur
Ahead of India's departure for Australia for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, head coach Gautam Gambhir had revealed that the current management has moved on from Shardul, and hence Nitish Kumar Reddy was picked.
"The decision to pick Reddy (Nitish) ahead of Shardul is also about moving forward,” Gambhir had said.
Soon after, Shardul had emphatically stated that he has not given up on making a comeback into the Indian cricket team.
"I haven’t had any communication yet. I have just returned from surgery, so it’s obvious that’s the reason I am not in the team at the moment,” he told reporters.
"However, my fitness is in great shape now, and since the Australia tour is a long one, opportunities can come anytime. Following that, the England team is also coming to India for white-ball matches, then there’s the Champions Trophy, so there’s a lot of cricket ahead. So, there will surely be chances somewhere down the line," he added.
Shardul has so far played 11 Tests, 47 ODIs and 25 T20Is for India. He has taken 129 wickets across all formats.
With the bat in hand, he has registered 729 runs across the three formats, with his best score being 67 in a Test match.
