Veteran India Star Lauds Shardul Thakur For 'Surprise Bumper' To Sunrisers Hyderabad Opener Abhishek Sharma

Veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara lauded Lucknow Super Giants all-rounder Shardul Thakur for his surprise bouncer causing the hard-hitting Abhishek Sharma to be late on his shot and be dismissed early, which eventually set the tone for the visitors to get their first win of IPL 2025. At the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Thakur had Abhishek caught off his short ball at deep square leg and picked up 4-34, his best figures in the IPL, as a power-packed SRH batting line-up managed to score only 190/9.

In reply, Nicholas Pooran smashed a whirlwind 70 off just 26 balls as LSG chased down the target with 23 balls to spare. For now, Thakur, drafted in as an injury replacement by LSG after going unsold in the mega auction, is the leading wicket-taker in the competition.

"One is, he is looking to swing the ball. With the new ball, he is getting that shape into the left-handers and he's trying to mix it up with the yorkers. If you look at the previous deliveries, which Abhishek or Travis Head faced, he tried bowling yorkers - it was low full-tosses - but as a batter you are thinking, is it going to be a yorker or a back-of-a-length ball.

"And suddenly, he bowls a bumper, which could surprise a batter. And then you have less fraction of a second to execute your shot, and that's why I think Abhishek was late on his shot," said Pujara on ESPNCricinfo.

Nick Knight, the former England batter, also felt Thakur was spot on with his bowling plans in Hyderabad. "I call it bowling craft. When we were batters, we faced a lot of bowlers. The best bowlers we faced were often those who got their bowling craft. And bowling craft is when you're not expecting that particular ball."

"If Abhishek was waiting for that ball, (if) he knew it