Twitterati in awe of Shardul Thakur's hitting abilities

Team India was invited to bat first in the series decider by the hosts at Headingley. England bowled well up front and kept the openers quite in the powerplay. The skipper Virat Kohli played a brilliant knock of 71 runs but others struggled with the ball increasingly gripping in the surface as the innings progressed. With wickets falling at the regular intervals, one felt that the Men in Blue would finish with an underwhelming score. However, Shardul Thakur came to the fore at the right time for them and helped them cross the 250-run mark.

Everything was going fine for the visitors until the 25th over when Dinesh Karthik played on while going for an expansive drive off Adil Rashid. The leggie got into his groove then and castled Kohli with a beautiful leg-spinner. The delivery even left the batsman shocked as he didn’t expect to turn so much. The run-scoring, after his wicket, slowed down much like the second ODI.

MS Dhoni tried his best but apart from an odd shot to the boundary even he struggled and was dismissed on 42 in the 46th with India’s score reading 221/7. There was no hope then for the fans as many felt that they will get bowled under 240.

Shardul comes to the fore

Shardul Thakur had other ideas though. He took a few singles before going gaga over Ben Stokes in the penultimate over of the innings. He started the over with a clout over deep mid-wicket by nicely getting under the length ball delivered by the England all-rounder. He also whacked the next delivery with all the power but Liam Plunkett’s brilliance denied him a six and could only manage a couple.

But the fifth ball once again was a bumper for the visitors as he read the slower bouncer and absolutely mowed the pull over the deep backward square leg. 17 runs were eked in the over and Team India had crossed 250 which looked a distant dream 10 minutes ago.

David Willey bowled a fantastic last over and conceded only singles as India finished on 256/8 after 50 overs. Shardul remained unbeaten on 22 off just 13 deliveries with a couple of huge maximums and Twitterati was left in awe of him. His blinder has given India a ray of hope in the decider and if they bowl well, they can defend this total.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Shardul’s knock:

Shardul Thakur at the moment…👏🔥🔥#INDvsENG #INDvENG #ENGvIND #ShardulThakur pic.twitter.com/bcYheMNvhK

— Shivam (@itsShivam18) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur has given himself some more runs to bowl at. This total might just be par on this surface

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur is only the 2nd player to hit a SIX for India in this ODI series. Rohit Sharma hit four sixes in the first match in Nottingham. #ENGvIND

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) July 17, 2018

Indians to Shardul Thakur after his two sixes:

#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/SGRp6AW12O

— Lord Commander (@Holdthedoor19) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur telling Dhoni, that's how easy wicket it is. A flat surface, that needs a little application than a mental barrier. #INDvENG

— Rofl Gandhi (@akarryan) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur is at it again!
This time at Headingley.. 😁#ENGvIND

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 17, 2018

Take a bow, Bhuvi and Shardul. You guys did well to take it to a respectable total. Kuldeep and Chahal can take over from here and win it. Bhuvneshwar's first spell will be very important. 70-30% to India. #ENGvIND

— Jaanvi 🏏 (@ThatCricketBuff) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur has hit sixes only to show Dhoni how easy the pitch is, atleast this is what twitter thinks. Get over Dhoni, there are other players in the team as well. #ENGvIND

— Nisha Gangwani (@nisha__gangwani) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur should bat at number 4 – Gambhir #ENGvIND

— Gagan Thakur (@gagan_gt) July 17, 2018

Who's going to make the account Troll Shardul Thakur Haters now? 😂😂

— SANATH (@Dude_Cricket) July 17, 2018

Someone said not to play shardul thakur..bowling ka pata ni batting m kaam kardia dhoni se better khelra h ladka😂😂 @Aishwarya_talks @Gajal_Dalmia @Mr_MahiPS

— Arsh (@arsh1577) July 17, 2018

Dhoni bats like it's the most toughest pitch against toughest bowlers, shardul thakur bats and shows how flat and easy pitch is. It's jst abt d momentum which dhoni slows down like he is batting on an alien pitch against aliens for d 1st time

— Raj Bharati (@RajBharati4) July 17, 2018

Shardul scoring runs at the rate he's going to concede them

— Piyush (@Stonewaller_) July 17, 2018

Only Legend Shardul Can Save Us Today. Shardul Pls Switch IPL Qualifier 1 Mode#ENGvIND #Dhoni #ViratKohli

— Saurabh Shinde (@imsgshinde) July 17, 2018

OMG! I CAN CHANT SHARDUL THAKUR ALL NIGHT TODAY. IT'S WORTH IT. HE DESERVES IT! SHARDULLLLLLLLLLLLL#ENGvIND

— Jessy Rajkumari (@imJR_4) July 17, 2018

"Yeh haath nahi, lohe ka danda hai"
Shardul Thakur after hitting those lusty blows into the crowd. #ThakurSahab #ENGvIND

— North Stand-Wankhede (@NorthStandGang) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur making Ben Stokes his bitch.

— Shubh AggarWall (@shubh_chintak) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur should bat above MS Dhoni,Suresh Raina and Hardik Pandya. 😂
Dear Mahi,You gotta learn batting from him so indian crowd in england will not boo you. 😝#INDvENG #ENGvIND

— Shubham Borade (@Shubh1mm) July 17, 2018

Shardul >>> Raina lmao. Don't even know why Raina is being chosen ahead of KL. Don't want hear these extra bowling options bullshit. It's irrelevant.

— Jai (@Pogbossed) July 17, 2018

Shardul Thakur at 4 please!#ENGvIND

— Sudhanshu #17 (@beingsudhanshu_) July 17, 2018

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