Ranji Trophy: ‘Big, big relief’ for Shardul Thakur as he smashes first FC ton, but India return not on his mind at the moment

It came 11 years after he made his debut, in his 81st match and a couple of months after being dropped from Team India. It’s a ‘big, big relief’, admitted Shardul Thakur after scoring a counter-attacking century on Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy semifinals against Tamil Nadu on Sunday.

But the Mumbai pacer is conscious the ton might not immediately open the doors for him to get back into the Test squad. After being axed from the ODI and T20 squad last year, Thakur was dropped from the Test team during India’s tour to South Africa in January.

“I think an international comeback is far from now because the Test team is out already for the fifth game and after this, we are going into the IPL so it’s far,” Thakur said after the second day’s play at the MCA-BKC ground. “I am not thinking that far. But yes, scoring a century is a big, big relief and it was very important for the team at that point of time.”

His knock of 109 came when Mumbai were in a precarious situation. Batting at number 9, he walked in when Mumbai were reduced to 106/7 largely due to Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner Sai Kishore’s heroics. Kishore bowled a marathon spell and ended the day with figures of 6/97. The century helped Mumbai recover and race to a massive 207-run lead with the last pair still batting.

Screengrab: Shardul Thakur celebrates scoring hundred in the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu. (BCCI)

Thakur heaped praise on the opposition skipper. “He (Kishore) was bowling really well. After a long, long time I could see a quality left-arm spinner who is coming up after Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja),” Thakur said.

Thakur, Sai Kishore warn of injuries

Thakur also urged the cricket board to revise the Ranji Trophy schedule. If the situation isn’t rectified, he warned players across the countries will start getting injured.

“I don’t think it has ever happened. When I started playing Ranji Trophy, the first three games used to have a three-day break, then four-day break, and knockouts had a five-day break. It is extremely tough for domestic players to expect them to play 10 games in a row with just a three-day gap if the team reaches the final. I think next year they will have to relook at it and give more breaks. The schedule is becoming tighter and tighter. If boys keep playing like this for two more seasons there will be a lot of injuries across the country,” he said.

Thakur pointed out that fast bowlers, especially, are at risk of picking up injuries and cited the example of his teammate Mohit Avasthi, who got injured after playing five matches in a row because of the paucity of selection options Mumbai had during the season.

His views were echoed by Sai Kishore, who has almost stopped training between the matches to manage his workload.

“A few players feel the same thing (about the three-day gap). Fast bowlers are extra tired because you travel on one day. For me, I don’t train much because of the three-day thing. I bowl directly match-to-match so the load on my body is fine. I don’t strain myself in training pre-match. I am managing myself that way but would be harder for the fast bowlers,” Kishore said.

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