Team India completed a 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand in Indore on Tuesday, making them the No.1 ODI side in the world but it was captain Rohit Sharma's manic outburst at allrounder Shardul Thakur that grabbed the eyeballs of the fans.
Thanks to blistering centuries by Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, the Men in Blue went on to post a mammoth 385/9 on the board. In reply, New Zealand lost an early wicket but then a quickfire partnership between Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls looked threatening.
Devon Conway in particular was extremely severe on the Indian bowlers as he cruised through to a stunning ton off only 71 balls and appeared to be taking the Black Caps toward a sensational victory. The counter-attacking stand between Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls made India captain Rohit Sharma worried.
Though the Indian Cricket Team continued to pick wickets at regular intervals, Rohit Sharma realized that until Devon Conway was around, the match was not fully in control of the hosts.
After Henry Nicholls went back to the pavilion following his dismissal by Kuldeep Yadav, Daryl Mitchell joined Devon Conway in the middle. The pair stitched together a 78-run partnership when Rohit Sharma decided to bring the man with the golden arm Shardul Thakur back into the attack.
Shardul Thakur made an immediate impact on the game as he picked up the wickets of Daryl Mitchell and New Zealand skipper Tom Latham on back-to-back deliveries in the 26th over.
Despite sending two Kiwi batters back to the pavilion, skipper Rohit Sharma was left unimpressed by Shardul Thakur as Devon Conway smashed him for consecutive boundaries on his last two deliveries.
With Devon Conway seeing the ball like a football, Shardul Thakur tried to change his tactics and instead of pitching the ball up, he went for short balls twice in a row. But Devon Conway was up for the challenge, pulling them for fours on both occasions and this left Rohit Sharma seething with anger.
Seeing his bowler not following the team strategy, Rohit Sharma jogged up to Shardul Thakur and reprimanded him for nearly 10 seconds in what was a rather unusual outburst from the India captain, who's known for having a calm head on his shoulders.
But Rohit Sharma's disappointment with Shardul Thakur vanished in his next over as the allrounder sent Glenn Phillips packing to grab his third wicket of the match.
Rohit Sharma was unhappy with Shardul Thakur’s line and length 🥵
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Subsequently, Umran Malik ended New Zealand's hopes of victory by dismissing centurion Devon Conway who made 138 runs from 100 balls. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal then did the rest to bowl New Zealand out for a total of 295.
After India's triumph, Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur were seen hugging each other on the field with the former praising the latter in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Rohit Sharma even went on to dub Shardul Thakur as the “magician” who is expected to deliver the goods whenever the Indian team is in a crisis.
“In the last six games we've done most things right in ODIs. We're consistent in our approach with the bat and ball. Without Siraj and Shami we wanted to give opportunities to other guys on the bench. We wanted to bring Chahal and Umran in the mix, put them under pressure. We had runs on the board, but on this kind of ground no total is safe. We stuck to the plans, held our nerves. People call him magician in the squad and he came and delivered. Just need to get more games under his belt,” Rohit Sharma said.
“It is going to be challenging for us.. to get a No 8, No 9 who can bat,” Rohit Sharma added. “His [Thakur's] ability with the bat can give us the edge at No 8. But if you have seven good batters who can do the job for us – no matter what the situation is, then you can look at your playing combination as well. In India [at the World Cup], you are going to play all over the country – different pitches, different challenges.”
Meanwhile, Shardul Thakur shrugged off the incident, saying that he was “well-liked” by his colleagues in the team and even he loved them.
“I'm well liked by them and even I like my team-mates. At some point they're going to come after you, and it's important to stay in the moment and not get ahead of yourselves. I ask myself what needs to be done and do it the next time. I don't think too much because we've to be ready for all situations, whether with the bat or ball. Everyone enjoys batting and modern-day game is all about batting. Don't you think so?,” Shardul Thakur said while picking up the Man of the Match award at the Holkar Stadium.
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