It is due to the ankle injury he reportedly sustained during India's tour of South Africa.
An all-rounder bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) auction has been ruled out of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024 for two weeks. The latest CSK recruit, secured for INR 4 crore will miss Mumbai’s second match in the Ranji Trophy against Kerala, slated to start from January 19 due to the ankle injury he reportedly sustained during India’s tour of South Africa.
In the opening Centurion Test, Shardul Thakur displayed a satisfactory performance with the bat but encountered challenges in making a significant impact with the ball, conceding a plethora of runs. Mukesh Kumar took over his position in the second Test, though India did not specify any injury at that time.
Returning to CSK after representing Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2022 and 2023 IPL seasons, respectively, Shardul Thakur had been a key player in Chennai Super Kings’ victories in IPL 2018 and 2021. Despite CSK’s interest in bringing Thakur back to their roster last year, they lost in bidding wars to Delhi Capitals.
Following the first Test against South Africa, former cricketer turned pundit Sanjay Manjrekar remarked that while India faced a collective failure, Thakur might bear the consequences by being excluded from Test cricket for a period.
Interestingly, Thakur is not included in India’s squad for the first two Tests against England, scheduled to commence on January 25.
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“I fear Shardul Thakur will have to wait a while to play his next Test match. They will have to look at his bowling. It is not that he scored 40-50 with the bat either. He might not play a Test match for a while now as India will find other ways of strengthening their batting,” Manjrekar had said.
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