Mumbai’s star allrounder Shardul Thakur is set to play county cricket for Essex as he is set to make an even bigger case to be selected for the England Test series later this year.
Thakur has been rollicking form in the Indian domestic circuit, having ended last year with an unbeaten 73 and 3-17 against Nagaland in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The 33-year-old however hit top gear once the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 resumed for the round six matches. In the game against Jammu and Kashmir which had the likes of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube, it was Thakur who topscored in the first innings with 51 which was followed by a counterattacking 119 in the second innings.
Even though his innings couldn’t prevent Mumbai’s defeat against J&K, Thakur claimed a hat-trick in the first innings and a haul of 4-43 and scored 84 in the must-win encounter against Meghalaya. His four wickets in the second innings after conceding 48 runs set up a mammoth innings and 456-run victory for the defending champions.
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In the quarterfinal against Haryana he was once again key for his side with 6-58 in the first innings and 3-26 in the second innings as Mumbai won by 152 runs.
India are set to play five Tests against England between June 20 and August 4. Going unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction will also be a big plus for Thakur as he will be able to play at least seven games of County Championship 2025 which will be played between April 4 and May 23.
Thakur had previously made it clear that he will do everything to gain a place in the national team after being sidelined for over a year. Thakur’s last international match came in December, 2023 against South Africa in Centurion.
In the ongoing semifinal against state rivals Vidarbha, Thakur claimed 1-78 in the first innings and scored a quickfire 37 off 41 balls as Mumbai ended Day 2 with a deficit of 195 runs. Batting first, Vidarbha were all out for 383 in the first innings thanks to fifties from Dhruv Shorey (74), Danish Malewar (79) and Yash Rathod (54).
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