Always difficult to find your rhythm: Shardul Thakur on being underbowled in Manchester

Shardul Thakur's inclusion in the first Test against England at Leeds, became a talking point as cricket experts felt that the seam bowling all-rounder was underutilised by Shubman Gill.

- TRIDIB BAPARNASH

While Thakur missed the next two Tests at Edgbaston and Lord's, Nitish Kumar Reddy's injury opened the doors for his inclusion in the ongoing fourth Test at Manchester.

On the second day of the Test, Thakur made a case with the bat, contributing a vital 41 runs, but it appears that wasn't enough to earn his captain's trust with the ball. He was employed for only five out of 46 overs that England batted, failing to make an impact and gave away 35 runs at an economy rate of 7.

It wasn't only Thakur, who was dealt mercilessly by the English opening pair of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who raised a 166-run first wicket stand to lay the platform for England's strong response to India's first innings total of 358. Fellow quicks Mohammed Siraj and Anshul Kamboj also found it tough to slow the scoring rate even as the pitch conditions changed dramatically with the skies clearing up during England's batting.