Former South Africa batter JP Duminy lauded the efforts of Shardul Thakur in the second test match when the pacer delivered a record-breaking spell at Johannesburg. Duminy also drew parallels between him and Vernon Philander for their ability to swing the ball.
In the second test match, Shardul Thakur put on a great exhibition of swing and swing bowling as he delivered the best figures (7/61) by an Indian bowler against South Africa, beating the record of R Ashwin (7/66) at Nagpur 2015. However, this effort wasn’t proved enough as South Africa beat the visitors by 7 wickets to level the series by 1-1 with one test to go.
Shardul Thakur’s 7/61 is the best figures by an Indian bowler against South Africa
Speaking to Cricket.com, JP Duminy spoke on length about Shardul’s heroics at the Wanderers. Duminy compared his skills with former South Africa all-rounder Vernon Philander who picked 224 wickets in his 64-Test career.
“I’d liken Shardul to someone like Vernon Philander. The reason why he comes to mind, I think about how he goes about getting his wickets. There was a crack he utilized to his advantage in the first innings. But what’s impressive is the ability to wobble the seam but be consistent with your lines and length. You’re allowing the surface to be your variation,” Duminy said.
Duminy further pointed out that 30-year old Indian pacer Shardul Thakur’s ability to swing the ball in both directions is even better than Philander. He was also quite impressed with the way he consistently land the ball on cracks to exploit the awkward bounce in the Johannesburg surface.
“When the ball lands on each side of the seam, it could move in different directions or it keeps particularly low or bounce towards the batter. This was something Vernon was immaculate at. He used to say, he kept the ball in a certain way and I get that impression with Thakur as well. The added advantage is that he has the ability to possibly swing the ball a little more than Philander.” he said.
And it’s not just bowling, Thakur played an important cameo of 28(24) in the second innings to give India a fighting total. In his short career, Thakur already scored 3 fifties in his 6-Test match career. However, this was his first fifer in Test cricket, which was also his bowling figures in first-class cricket.
The third and final test will begin on January 11 at Cape Town as India will be eying for their maiden series win in South Africa.
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