India’s Shardul Thakur stepped up to the plate on Friday, scoring a valiant 51 under pressure. It was a “welcome to Test cricket” moment for the all-rounder.
“The ball was hard, and it bounced from an odd length. We were under pressure with six wickets down, so this was a tough situation. This felt like a ‘welcome to Test cricket’ moment,” Thakur said in the press conference.
Thakur is confident that India can chase a high target in the second essay. “Cricket is a funny game. One good partnership and we can chase 450 or even more than that. The game can change in an hour. We are optimistic,” Thakur said.
On his partnership with Ajinkya Rahane, Thakur said, “We spoke to each other a lot. We talked about how the bowler gripped the ball, how the pitch behaved, seam movement and so on. Ajinkya is a senior player, but he told me to inform him if he commits any mistakes,” Thakur said.
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc stated that he expects the pitch to play more tricks in the final two days. “The pitch is showing more signs of inconsistency. It seems to be a good toss to lose (Australia was asked to bat). The surface might play a few more tricks,” Starc said.
Starc praised Rahane’s effort with the bat. “Rahane played really well. We’ve him play like this before. He came in at a tough time, and absorbed the pressure with Thakur. That partnership prolonged our bowling innings. Rahane waited for the bad balls and built his innings well. It took a special catch to remove Rahane. Hopefully we can get him out early in the second innings,” Rahane said.
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