He had a decent outing in the two matches against England Lions
India’s preparations for the England Test series beginning on June 20 are showing good signs as Mumbai all-rounder Shardul Thakur scored a superb hundred in the Intra-squad match in Beckenham on Day 3.
Thakur, who has made his return to the national team after nearly two years, has shown promise in the India A shadow tour against England Lions.
In the first match in Canterbury, he scored 27 while registering figures of 2-105 against the Lions. In the second match, he scored 19 and 34 while returning 0-40 in the first innings.
On Sunday, the all-rounder scored an unbeaten 122.
Thakur was unbeaten on 19 at the end of Day 2 on Saturday alongside keeper-batter Ishan Kishan who was batting on 45.
The second day was lukewarm for Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who went wicketless. Senior pacer Mohammed Siraj got two wickets, but proved too expensive by going at over 7 per over.
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However, it was Sarfaraz Khan’s day as the young Mumbaikar smashed 101 in just 76 balls which was studded with 15 boundaries and two sixes and then retired out.
Spin-bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar batted twice on Saturday and returned scores of 0 and 35.
Thakur has made his international comeback after superb performances in red-ball cricket with Mumbai in the 2024-25 season.
The 33-year-old claimed 35 wickets from nine matches at an average of 22 which included three four-wicket hauls and one fifer. With the bat, Thakur was in superb form as he scored 505 runs from 12 innings which included a hundred and four fifties.
Besides Thakur, Karun Nair made a fairytale return to the international scene with his stupendous form in domestic cricket. Nair scored 863 runs from 16 innings at an average of 53 which included four hundreds and two fifties.
However, it was Nair’s performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy that grabbed headlines. The former Karnataka man amassed a total off 779 runs from just eight innings at a sparsely believable average of 389.5 which also got him back in the selectors’ radar.
The retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also created the need for an experienced top-order batter in the team.
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