Shardul Thakur

There is that one bowler in every team who has that uncanny knack of providing breakthroughs when the team needs them the most and whenever that bowler comes on to bowl, he brings wickets with him. Shardul Thakur is a right-arm pace bowler who brings that same attribute to the table when representing the Indian national team.

It was not a fairytale start for Shardul as he managed just 4 wickets in his debut season in the Ranji Trophy. He redeemed himself in the 2013/14 season, picking up 27 wickets in 6 games, and came of age in the third season snaring 48 wickets which made him the joint-highest wicket-taker for the 2014/15 season. He was rewarded with an Indian T20 League contract as the Punjab franchise picked him up for the 2015 edition.

In 2017, Indian selectors took notice of his performances at the domestic level for Mumbai and named him in India’s white-ball squad for the tour of Sri Lanka where he made his ODI debut. Shardul has since gone on to make his T20I and Test debuts for India. He was part of the Indian Test team during their 2020-21 tour of Australia. His maiden fifty in Brisbane was one of the high points of the series that India eventually pocketed.

Shardul is a hit-the-deck bowler who can generate vicious seam movement and has perfected the outswinger over time, making himself a dangerous proposition against any batting side. After playing for the Punjab franchise, he has represented the now-defunct Pune, Chennai, and Delhi franchises in the Indian T20 League. He won the Indian T20 League title with Chennai in 2018 and 2021.

Shardul Thakur will feature for the Kolkata franchise in the 2023 Indian T20 League having been transferred from Delhi ahead of the auction. He has a good outswinger going away from the right-handed batter. He can also extract purchase from the surface by hitting the wicket. Thakur is more than decent with the bat and can certainly show some fight lower down the order. His multi-dimensional skills make him a useful commodity in the team.