No amount of prior experience can help you calm your nerves when you are on your maiden tour with the Indian team. Nervousness is bound to creep in when you are in the company of established performers and a high-profile coach. Mumbai fast bowler Shardul Thakur on his first tour with the Indian Test team would have gone through some anxious moments, but he now is very much part of the squad.
On Day One of the second practice game at the Warner Park, he had picked his first wicket of the tour with his trademark short ball. Having troubled many back home in domestic cricket, Shardul’s well-aimed bouncer surprised West Indies Board President’s XI captain Leon Johnson, who mistimed the pull with Stuart Binny taking a fine diving catch. It is the ball that has fetched him wickets and should he figure in the playing XI, the West Indies batsmen need to watch out. “There were a few bouncers I bowled and almost got a wicket in the second innings with one. I picked a wicket in the first innings with a bouncer. It is the variation ball and can surprise batsmen and one should keep using it and I do the same as well. Hopefully, I will get more wickets in the future as well.”
Used to bowl in conditions where fast bowlers get little purchase from the surface, Shardul does not mind bending his back on slow wickets. He bowled with the new ball in the first innings (10-1-24-1) and was first change (12-4-26-0) in the second as R. Ashwin 3/59 shared the new ball with Mohammed Shami. “Yes, the wicket was slow, but my job is put everything behind the ball. I put in a lot of effort and in the matches to come, we will need to bowl in the same way. It does not matter if the pitch is slow or fast, what matters is your effort. I think fast bowlers need to bowl every ball that way.”
The 24-year-old said the team management had made him comfortable so that he can focus on the job. “They have made me comfortable obviously. A player can perform better when he is comfortable with the teammates and there should not be any pressure on him. The more freedom you give him in the dressing room and make him understand about the game, the more he will go out and perform. That is what the senior guys and Anil bhai has done, and now it is upto me how I go out and perform.”
Now that he bowls in the nets alongside Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with Head Coach Anil Kumble monitoring the proceedings, Shardul said he is learning quickly. “It was my dream to be in the Test team and being with the Indian team has been a learning experience. A few guys have played in the Caribbean before and I am trying to learn from them. Whatever I pick up, I will try and incorporate that in my game.”
With the wicket slowing down, the Indians could not press for a win on the final day (Saturday), but with two practice matches under their belt and a preparatory camp in Bengaluru, the team has prepared well. “When you sit down and talk with senior guys and coaches, you discuss things. In both the games, pitches in St. Kitts were slow and we're expecting few slower wickets in the Test matches. The next time we play on a slow wicket, it won't surprise us. We have to put all our efforts.”
