‘It’s a morale booster’: Shardul Thakur on receiving praise from Sachin Tendulkar | Cricket News – Times of India

JOHANNESBURG: India’s bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur expressed his happiness after being praised by the legend Sachin Tendulkar for his heroics with the ball in the second Test against South Africa.
Thakur picked seven wickets to restrict the hosts’ first-innings lead to just 27 as the Proteas were bundled out for 229 at the Wanderers stadium on Tuesday.
Taking to Twitter, Tendulkar wrote, “Congratulations to @imShard on picking up 7 wickets with his steady bowling and variations. Good support by the others.”

On being asked by bowling coach Paras Mhambrey about how he felt after reading the tweet, Shardul said that the praises from Sachin are always a ‘morale booster’ for him.
“It’s my pleasure that the ‘God’ himself has tweeted about me. Being a Mumbaikar, I have played a few games with him. He has always supported me as a youngster and it’s always good to hear from him, it is a morale booster,” Shardul told Mhambrey.

Apart from Sachin, former India batter VVS Laxman also congratulated Thakur for his ‘lion-hearted display’.
“Lion-hearted display by Shardul Thakur. Best figures by an Indian against South Africa, thoroughly deserved his seven wickets for persistence and intelligence. Has single-handedly brought India back into the second Test. Over to the batters now. #SAvIND,” tweeted Laxman.

“Kyaaaaaa Baat hai thaaaakuuuurrrr @imshard well done.. So happy to see you performing like a champion.. 7wickets haul #INDvsSAF @BCCI”, wrote Harbhajan Singh on twitter.

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan also tweeted: “Fantastic from shardul. Impressive bowling with an older ball!”

At Stumps on Day 2, India’s scorecard read 85/2, with Cheteshwar Pujara (35*) and Ajinkya Rahane (11*) on the crease. Just like the opening day, 11 wickets fell on the second day as Thakur dominated proceedings.
In the second innings, India got off to a bad start as stand-in skipper KL Rahul was dismissed in the seventh over. India’s problems further increased when Mayank Agarwal offered no shot and was given out LBW in the 12th over.

Pujara and Rahane then made sure that India didn’t suffer any more hiccups before the end of day’s play.