Shardul Thakur injury: The Indian fast bowler is an in likeliness of missing the second Test match against England at Lord’s.
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India pacer Shardul Thakur has joined the list of injured players on the tour of England after being ruled out of the second Test match between England and India starting from tomorrow at Lord’s.
Thakur, 29, was included into the Playing XI for the first Test as a fourth specialist fast bowler. A handy customer with the bat in hand, Thakur was preferred ahead of Umesh Yadav for his knack of contributing across divisions.
While he scored 0 (6) in the first innings at Trent Bridge, Thakur was effective with the ball picking match figures of 26-4-78-4 which included wickets of Joe Root, Dan Lawrence and Jos Buttler.
Shardul Thakur injury
It was last night that Guardian had reported about Thakur’s hamstring niggle. While the Indian team management didn’t provide any official update on Thakur’s injury, captain Virat Kohli confirmed his absence for the match during a pre-match press conference. Kohli also mentioned that Thakur should recover from his left hamstring issue before the third Test in Headingley.
In Thakur’s absence, the Indian team management will have to ponder hard not just about his replacement but also about the overall combination as well.
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If India decide to persist with four pacers and Ravindra Jadeja as a lone spin-bowling option, they will practically have four bowlers with minimal batting skills as neither Ishant Sharma nor Umesh Yadav is known for their batting.
In such a scenario, the visitors might move back to their ICC World Test Championship final combination of playing three specialist fast bowlers and Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin as spinners who also have it in them to contribute with the bat.
