It was a terrible feeling to go out of field in debut Test, says Shardul Thakur

This has been a season of debutants. India saw a number of youngsters making their first appearance in international cricket over the last few months in Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Bihari, Khaleel Ahmed, Prithvi Shaw and others. However, while almost all of them have excelled in some form of cricket or another in their debut games, one player has failed to make the most of the occasion and he is pacer Shardul Thakur.

The 27-year-old was picked for his maiden Test against the Windies in Hyderabad last month but as luck had it, Thakur couldn’t even complete his second over in the game and had to leave the field with a groin injury. He could not bowl his eleventh ball in the game again although he batted at No.11 during India’s batting in the match. It was a moment which left the talented bowler both angry and hurt.

‘I was angry and in tears’

Speaking exclusively to Times of India in an interview, Thakur spoke about his frustration at that very moment. It was only a few hours before that he took his maiden Test cap from head coach Ravi Shastri as India’s 294th Test player but soon he was out of the game. “I was angry and in tears when it happened. Who wants to start his debut match like this? No one. It is really a terrible feeling, believe me,” he was quoted as saying.

Thakur, however, has a mature head to deal with the ordeal. “It is better to accept what happened rather complaining about it. It in the past for me now. I want to recover as soon as possible and return to the cricket field.” Thakur, who has played five ODIs and seven T20Is for India so far, has been on and off the field for some time now.

He played in just one ODI in England and then after featuring in the only warm-up game that India played there prior to the Test series, he played in only one game in Asia Cup which was against Hong Kong. He was ruled out of the tournament because of injury but had a decent game back home for Mumbai in Vijay Hazare Trophy. He was picked for the second Test against the Windies but did not last even two overs.