Rishabh Pant (left) pats Shardul Thakur on the back after the batsman return to pavillion in Brisbane
Shardul Thakur surely wouldn't have thought a month ago that he would make his debut for India in the closely-fought Australia vs India Test series but here we are now seeing him make a Test debut and showing he is not just an asset with the ball but the bat as well as he put in a performance which can only be rated as a rescue act.
In fact his performance just showed why India are among the toughest side in the world as after a top-order collapse in Australia's bastion the GABBA, the visitors managed to go past 300-run mark on Day 3 of the Brisbane Test in reply to Australia's 347.
And his performance was visibly appreciated by the Team India dressing room as the entire squad rose on their feet to give him a standing ovation.
Thakur, along with Washington Sundar, put on 123-run stand for the seventh wicket to put their team in a comfortable position in the decisive test with the series tied at 1-1 at the moment.
The partnership ended in the 102nd over with Shardul falling at 67 runs off 115 balls to Pat Cummins with 309 runs on the board. His aggressive but mature innings was laced with nine boundaries and two sixes; one of which also turned out to be the one which took him past the 50-run mark for the first time in Test cricket.
Earlier, the duo had been impressive and has already put the highest partnership for India in the ongoing Test in Brisbane. The Indian team looked in trouble after losing key wickets in quick intervals, coming down to 186/6 soon after the beginning of the second session.
However, Sundar showed immense composure to steer the Indian innings out of immediate trouble, while Shardul Thakur showed an aggressive intent early on, before putting on a gritty shift alongside the lefthanded batsman.
Throughout the partnership, Sundar also displayed crafty cricketing shots.
Here's a list of highest partnership for seventh-wicket by Indian pairs at the Gabba:
Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur (2021) - 67*
Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar (1991) - 58
MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin (2014) - 57
Manoj Prabhakar and Ravi Shastri (1991) - 49
ML Jaisimha and Bapu Nadkarni (1968) - 44
Earlier, Australia were bowled out on 369 in the first innings. Thakur and Sundar were among the top wicket-takers in the innings alongside T Natarajan. The trio took three-wickets each.
