Shardul Thakur knows how to make an impact.
Playing in his first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Thakur produced a superlative effort in the outfield to help get rid of big-hitting Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
Hardik Pandya first tested Gurbaz with a short delivery which rushed onto the Afghan opener but he went for the pull shot anyway. A top-edge followed and the ball flew towards deep backward square leg region.
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Thakur took an overhead catch at an angle to his right but then realised the momentum will push him beyond the boundary. He quickly flicked the ball back in the field, kept his balance and returned to complete the catch on second attempt drawing applause from the Indian fielders and capacity crowd at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Watch Thakur’s excellent boundary catch below:
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And the fast bowling allrounder wasn’t done yet.
He bowled the next over after Pandya and trapped Rahmat Shah LBW on 16 which the Afghan batter reviewed. However, the impact was on umpire’s call and the on-field decision was upheld.
India started their cricket world cup campaign with an impressive win over Australia in Chennai last week when they overcame a disastrous start to chase down a total of 200.
Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer registered ducks as India were left tottering at 2/3 at the Chepauk before KL Rahul (97*) and Virat Kohli rescued them with a massive partnership.
India have made one change to their playing XI for the Afghanistan match having including a Thakur in place of Ravichandran Ashwin.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and opted to bat first on what he considers is a good batting track. However, India captain Rohit said he would’ve chased anyway.
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