Shardul Thakur credits domestic cricket, IPL for improved form

Shardul Thakur picked up three wickets - all in one over - in India’s comfortable victory over Sri Lanka in the second T20I in Indore.

Thakur celebrates the wicket of Malinga in the Indore T20I.

Fast bowler Shardul Thakur stated that regular match-practice has helped him sharpen his white-ball skills. Thakur picked up three wickets - all in one over - in India’s comfortable victory over Sri Lanka in the second T20I here on Tuesday.

“Playing two continuous years of domestic cricket and IPL has helped me with the white-ball. The more you play, the more you learn. And recently, our bowling coach Bharat Arun has been very helpful too,” Thakur said.

The Mumbai cricketer added that the Holkar Stadium pitch favoured batsmen, which made Sri Lanka’s total of 142 inadequate. “It was a 170-180 run pitch. It was not difficult to score runs at any stage,” Thakur said.

Sri Lankan coach Micky Arthur blamed the batting for the defeat. "We played too many shots, without rotating the strike. There were too many dot balls. If you get regular singles and twos, it puts the bowlers off their rhythm," Arthur said.

Arthur stated that injured left-arm fast bowler Isuru Udana is unlikely to feature in the third T20I. "It was unfortunate that Udana could not bowl today. Udana was in great pain in the dressing room. We hope to get him ready for our next tour, but even that looks a bit of a stretch," Arthur said.