Indian seamer Shardul Thakur has revealed that no one from Team India expected that Virat Kohli would step down as Test captain after the South Africa series. Kohli relinquished the Test captaincy after India’s 1-2 series defeat against South Africa. The decision shocked the cricketing world as BCCI didn’t look ready for the transitional phase in red-ball cricket.
Shardul emerged as a match-winner for India in all-three formats under Kohli’s leadership. The 30-year-old has a knack for getting crucial wickets and has proved his batting prowess lower down the order in the recent past to become a valuable asset to the team.
The Mumbai cricketer said that it was an emotional moment for everyone when Kohli announced his decision as India did extremely under his leadership in overseas conditions.
“It was an emotional moment for everyone. No one expected that he would resign from Test captaincy. We did well under his captaincy, especially overseas. Those series we lost overseas were close ones. The team was doing well under him and no one expected this. However, now that he has made his decision, everyone should respect it,” Thakur told Indian Express.
The 30-year-old further talked about India’s defeat to South Africa in the Test series where the bowlers failed to defend the 200-plus target twice on Proteas soil.
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“In those two Tests, luck wasn’t on our side. There were many times when their batsman edged, but the ball fell short or flew above us. We later realised that edges will not carry, so our fielders came closer. We were unlucky many times. Once they were 150 for 3, and we bowled them out. Once you are chasing 200-plus, there is confidence in the dressing room that it is chaseable. But if the target is 300-plus in the fourth innings, pressure starts to build up. In those two Test matches, we lost as our bowling and fielding unit didn’t carry the luck with ourselves,” he said.
Shardul is part of India’s squad for the upcoming limited-overs series against West Indies. In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar, Sharul will have a big responsibility in the bowling attack.
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