COMMUNICATION PROBLEM

No one has spoken to me post injury: Shardul Thakur

by Gaurav Gupta • Last updated on

The 27-year-old pacer said the national selectors have not communicated with him since he returned from injury © Getty

Shardul Thakur, who played a Test match for India not too long ago, has made an impressive return from a groin injury that kept him out for almost two months. On Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium, the seamer moved the ball around at decent pace to take four for 47 to help Mumbai bowl out Chhattisgarh for just 149 in the second innings of their Ranji Trophy match. Thakur's impressive match haul of eight for 79 has taken his team to the cusp of a win with a bonus point.

However, the 27-year-old pacer became the latest player to reveal that the national selectors have not communicated with him since he returned from injury. "No one has spoken to me yet," Thakur said. There was no national selector present at the venue to see how the fast bowler, whose Test debut against West Indies in October in Hyderabad lasted a mere 10 balls before he limped off the ground, is shaping up now either.

A source in the BCCI, however, contradicted Thakur's statement. "The selectors have been speaking to him from the time he was set to return to action, in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy game against Vidarbha at Nagpur on New Year's Eve. He's been told that he should keep himself ready to play for India A for the limited over and 'Test' series against the England Lions at home," he told TOI.

Speaking about hit fitness levels and how his bowling is shaping up, Thakur said: "I'm getting better every game, every day. The way I bowled against Vidarbha (his first game since coming back from injury), on Days One and Two was different. I improved on Day Two. Here at Wankhede, I improved from the last game," Thakur said.

For now, Thakur is focused on gaining match practice. "At the moment, I'm not worried about speed. I need to bowl as many overs as I can in a match, and take that experience with me, so that when I play at a higher level, I can take that workload. Talking about my speed, it will come. I've been training, doing my fitness sessions," he said.

His bowling, the speedster, admitted, isn't 100 per cent there as of now. "I'm at the 90 per cent mark. I'm coming out of a major injury. If I say I'm bowling at 100 per cent, or if I try to bowl 100 per cent, it will be silly of me to do that immediately. As I said earlier, I'm progressing slowly, so hopefully, I'll get there in a few weeks," he said.

Meanwhile, the pacer was obviously hurt by Mumbai's poor show this season. "It's painful. All these years we've made the knockouts. we've made the semis, played in two finals. since I started playing for Mumbai, this is the first time that we've not qualified for the knockouts. It was painful sitting at home and watching your team not do well. A lot of times I felt that I should be playing out there helping the team, but I couldn't do much since I was injured," he lamented.

Thakur, who has played five ODIs and seven T20Is for India, seems to have taken his nightmare of a Test debut in his stride. "Injuries are a part and parcel of the game. I was unlucky that it happened on my Test debut. Maybe if I was playing some club game, it would have happened there, and you would still call me unlucky," he said.

© TNN

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