Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari batted a complete of 289 balls to save lots of the SCG Test and preserve the collection alive at 1-1 earlier than India delivered the knockout blow in Brisbane earlier this week, however Shardul Thakur had a task to play of their partnership too. Shardul was to make a huge impact within the Brisbane Test the next week, however whilst twelfth man in Sydney, he did lots by not doing a lot.
Coach Ravi Shastri was shouting directions from the dressing room and despatched Shardul out to ship a message to the pair, fielding coach R Sridhar revealed in a chat with Ashwin on his YouTube channel. But Shardul, not desirous to confuse Ashwin and Vihari with the barrage of conflicting ideas within the dressing room, determined to say nothing.
Sridhar stated, “Ravi Shastri had a clear message. He called Shardul Thakur (and said) ‘Shardul, come here and tell them that I told this specifically.’ He (Shardul) was almost shivering. He said ‘ What should I say, sir?’ ‘Tell Ash, that I told him’, Shastri replied. ‘What should I tell him, sir?’, Thakur enquired.”
“Shastri said, ‘Ashwin should take care of this end, and Vihari should bat from the other end. Ashwin is the best batsman against Nathan Lyon in this entire team. So he should bat from this end. He has a huge stride which helps him negate spin so well. Vihari is managing Starc and Cummins really well, getting underneath those bouncers. So ask them to continue’.”
Ashwin stated: “Then out came Shardul, running out from the dressing room. He was catching his breath when he reached us. We were like: ‘Just say it man’, while drinking water. Shardul said: ‘They told me so many things from the dressing room’. Yes, please tell, (I said). ‘But I am not going to say any of it,” Shardul replied. “You guys are doing a great job. So please continue.”
