Instead of worrying about the opponents and the conditions that are on offer on his maiden tour with the senior national team, Thakur preferred to focus on his bowling.
When Shardul Thakur earned his maiden international call-up last Monday, he said he would first celebrate the news with his friends and not think about the tour of the West Indies in July-August for the time being.
Now, with the celebrations over after cutting a cake with his friends, the 24-year-old right-arm medium-pacer will chalk out his training schedule with his trainer Amogh Pandit at the Mumbai Cricket Association's Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy at the Bandra-Kurla Complex and get into serious business.
The celebrations were not grand as he lost his uncle a couple of weeks ago. “People in Palghar were happy about my selection. The celebrations were not high, though, as my mother's brother passed away a couple of weeks ago. Friends came home and we cut a cake,” said Thakur at the Payyade Sports Club, Kandivali (West), here on Saturday.
He said that all the knowledge he has about the West Indies cricket and the pitch conditions are from watching 'Fire in Babylon' at the BKC academy.
“I don't know much about it,” Thakur frankly said when asked how much he knew of the West Indies and their cricket. “I have seen that movie (Fire in Babylon), and got to know a lot of things from it. How they built the team, what happened in Australia, how they won two back-to-back World Cups. They had a few of the fastest bowlers, the world feared them. Now, cricket has evolved a lot through T20. They are an attacking team. Am looking forward to going there,” Thakur said.
About his idea of the pitches, Thakur said: “I don't have idea about the pitches there. I will go there and figure them out. I will talk to my senior players, I will figure out in the practice sessions. It will be good to speak to senior players including Sachin Tendulkar if the opportunity arises, and will try to gather as much knowledge as possible.
Instead of worrying about the opponents and the conditions that are on offer on his maiden tour with the senior national team, Thakur preferred to focus on his bowling. “I am a different type of bowler. I would rather concentrate on my bowling, do my basics right. That is what I have been doing in the last three seasons and I would like to do at the higher level.”
Thakur stays with his uncle (father's brother) and aunt in Mumbai, saving his travel time from Palghar, a routine he devotedly did in his early days. “Sometimes, even today, I travel from Palghar to play cricket. It was very difficult to travel from Palghar to Mumbai each and every day. But I had to play cricket. Cricket was the only thing on my mind. Rest of the things did not matter. I was ready to do it,” he said.
Along with his hard work, he was also motivated by the senior cricketers in the Mumbai dressing room, giving him the belief that he was cut out for higher level. Thakur was criticised for being overweight and bowling wayward in his first first-class season in 2012-13. His place in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad was questioned. Soon after his maiden season that yielded him only four wickets in four matches, Thakur went to the MCA academy, trained hard, did a lot of bowling and running and lost around 12 kgs.
Fitter, leaner and hungrier for success, Thakur has only gone better to pick up 27 wickets in six Ranji Trophy matches in 2013-14, 48 in 10 games in 2014-15 and 41 in 11 in 2015-16, also figuring in India 'A' team last year against the visiting Australian and South African 'A' teams and the Board President's XI against the South African Test side earlier this year.
Thakur, plays for Payyade Sports Club in Mumbai Cricket Association's local matches, told young bowlers of the club to do the processes right and not take short cuts.
“I remember when I started playing, I used to travel from Palghar to Mumbai. I never skipped my practice sessions, always listened to my coaches. The process is long. You cannot take shortcuts to play at the higher level. It is always step by step – Under-15, 17, 19, Ranji trophy. While doing it, you have to progress step by step. While doing it, you have to remember the process. There has to be some purpose to why you sweat it out in practice. To achieve that purpose and your goals, you have to follow the process. That is what I am doing day in and day out and will still be doing it. And I expect you all to do it,” he told the attentive bowling prospects.
Thakur was felicitated with a shawl and a cheque for Rs 1 lakh by PV Shetty, owner of Payyade SC and joint secretary of Mumbai Cricket Association.
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