'He brings a lot of balance to the team' - Virat Kohli lauds 'multi-dimensional' Shardul Thakur

India skipper Virat Kohli has lauded Shardul Thakur for offering all-round options to team India. Ahead of the opening Test against England in Nottingham, he termed Thakur as ‘multi-dimensional’ and also stated that he is a huge prospect going forward for India.

India is struggling to find the balance especially away from home where playing two spinners is not possible. Moreover, it doesn’t work in England and they found it the hard way in the World Test Championship against New Zealand in June. The pace bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya hasn’t played a Test for a long time due to his long standing back injury and only recently resumed bowling in the limited-overs format as well.

In his absence, Virat Kohli reckons that Shardul Thakur will fit nicely into the all-round role and also pointed out the latter’s performance in Brisbane. Thakur had picked a total of seven wickets in the historic Test and also scored a vital 67 with the bat in the first innings at number 8 which had pulled India out of trouble.

“Yes, he definitely can be created. He is already a multi-dimensional cricketer. And it’s all about him getting more and more confidence with performances like Brisbane and someone like him obviously brings a lot more balance to a test team or any other format of the game,” Kohli said in the pre-match press conference.

Cricketers like Shardul help the team in a massive way, says Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli also stressed on the importance of having the bowlers who can bat well. Shardul Thakur is certainly that kind of a cricketer and in an era where India’s famed pace attack comprising Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah has struggled to contribute with the bat, the Mumbai player can definitely make the difference for India in near future.

“Hardik has done so well for us in the past, and right now he is getting back on track to bowling regularly. But, yeah these kinds of cricketers obviously help the team in a massive massive way and Shardul is a huge prospect for us and someone who is going to be very important not just in the series but moving forward as well,” the India captain added.