'We had a daughter who was Shardul's age, but we let him stay in our home'

Behind the rise of India medium pacer Shardul Thakur is an unknown hero that has perhaps never been given due credit wife of his childhood coach Dinesh Lad How It was she who gave permission to her husband to let Thakur stay at their two BHK flat in Borivali Mumbai despite having a daughter of almost the same ageIt was a tough decision for the Lad family but it must have been easy for the wellknown Mumbai coach to spot the latent talent that Thakur possessed At the time Thakur lived in Palghar over 86km from Borivali and Lad did not want the precious talent to go astrayI saw him playing in 2006 in Mumbai against our school team Swami Vivekanand International School Playing for Tarapur Vidya Mandir Shardul scored 78 runs and also picked five wickets Impressed by his performance I asked him to join my school I asked him to tell his parents to contact him I told his father that Shardul had a lot of talent and could play top level cricket Lad told IANS from Mumbai on Tuesday after India defeated Australia in the fourth and final Test in Brisbane and won the series 21However his father declined saying Shardul had class X board exams and also the journey from Palghar to Mumbai was more than twoandahalf hours which was very difficult Then I talked to my wife and asked her if we could keep a boy at our home so that he can play here in Mumbai My wife agreed and we bought him home he disclosedLad admitted said that initially he and his wife were a little bit hesitant as they had a daughter of almost the age of Shardul and there was a risk factor bringing an unknown person to stay at homeOurs was a two BHK flat in Borivali Initially we were reluctant as we too had a daughter who was Sharduls age or maybe a year older There was a risk factor But we made him stay at our home and it paid dividends We didnt take any money from him I got him admitted in my school and Shardul stayed with us for a year Lad who coached him and Rohit Sharma at his school informedTill then Thakur used to travel by train from Palghar to Swami Vivekanand International School and that was taking a lot of timeDuring school cricket Shardul smashed six consecutive sixes and made a name for himself He then got selected for the under15 Mumbai team and there was no looking back Lad saidIndeed there was no looking backFast forward to the 202021 tour of Australia In dramatic turn of events in Australia after Mohammad Shami got injured Thakur originally part of only the ODI squad was added to the Test squad as Shamis replacement for the second match that India went on to win to level the series 11 Thakur however wasnt played in that match in MelbourneThakur 29 also wasnt picked for the drawn third Test But he was finally picked in the XI for the fourth Test when Jasprit Bumrah got injuredThakurs 69 runs and seven wickets in the fourth Test has helped him to find a place in the India squad for the first two home Tests against England a reward well deservedFrom travelling in crowded Mumbai local trains to playing on one of the fastest pitches with guts Thakur has traversed a journey that many cricketers just dream aboutAs of now Thakurs international cricketing journey comprises two Tests 12 ODIs and 17 T20Is and it is a one that is a remarkable story of perseverance grit relentless efforts particularly about grabbing the opportunity with both handsBefore the fourth and final Test at the Gabba Thakur had played just a solitary Test against the West Indies in 2018 In that game he could bowl only 10 deliveries before he got injuredDuring the drawn third Test in Sydney Jasprit Bumrah Ravichandran Ashwin Hanuma Vihari and Ravindra Jadeja suffered injuries Courtesy these unwarranted injuries Thakur was included in the playing XI in fourth Test and the lad from Palghar showed his true mettle and grit and is now being counted among one of the heroes of one of Indias most memorable Test winsUsing his experience of 63 firstclass matches and 45 IPL games Thakur first scalps three important wickets of Marcus Harris 5 Tim Paine 50 and Pat Cummins 2 to help India bundle out Australia for 369 in their first innings a score that at one point looked to be heading in excess of 450 at leastThen during Indias reply with the bat Thakur came to bat at the crease when the visitors were in a difficult situation at 1866 He along with Washington Sundar shared a 123run partnership for the seventh wicket which helped India concede a lead of just 33 Thakur turned out to be Indias unlikely hero with the bat and contributed with a fine 67 with the help of nine fours and two sixesThere was a time few years back when he had become quite bulky and started bowling wayward I told him to do running on the sand I told him you have a beach near your place Why dont you run there He began working on his fitness after that There was also a time when he was disappointed at not being given a chance for Kings XI Punjab in IPL But I told him to stay calm and look at the positive side You are getting to practice at the top level Lad told IANS earlierThen in the second innings of the fourth Test when Australia seemed to be getting away with the game at 890 he dismissed Harris 38 and induced a minicollapse Then he took the wickets of Cameron Green 37 Paine 27 and Nathan Lyon 13 as Australia were bundled out for 294 India were set a target of 328 that the Ajinkya Rahaneled team chased down for one of their most remarkable wins in their Test historyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever