Shardul Thakur gives it back to commentators for criticizing bowlers

In a no-holds-barred attack on the commentator, the cricketer said the commentators must look at their stats first.

Shardul Thakur, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) seamer, gave it back to commentators for their overcritical remarks on the bowlers. After joining them as a replacement for Mohsin Khan, the cricketer who went unsold in the IPL mega auction has been a pivotal part of the LSG bowling attack. Thakur, 33, claimed 11 wickets in six matches and is currently at the second spot in the Purple Cap race behind Noor Ahmad (12).

Shardul Thakur lashes out at the commentators for being overcritical of bowlers.

Shardul Thakur claimed a couple of wickets in the win against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Ekana Stadium, Lucknow. After the match, he addressed the media. He hit back at commentators for going hard on bowlers without understanding how cricket is moving in a direction where 200+ scores are becoming quite common. He said, “I’ve always believed that, as a bowling unit, we’ve bowled well throughout the season. A lot of times in commentary, there’s criticism — they try to be hard on the bowlers. But you have to understand that cricket is moving in a certain direction where 200+ scores are becoming more common. And like you said, criticism will always be there — especially from commentators.”

“Look at their own stats before criticizing.”

Thakur added, “It’s easy to sit in a studio and comment on someone’s bowling, but they don’t see the real picture out there on the ground. I’m sure they should look at their own stats before criticizing anyone.” Talking about defending titles, despite an absence of an overseas bowler in the line-up, he said, “Credit to us that we’ve defended scores on two occasions when we batted first. We put up a good score, the pitch became better for batting, and even with drastic changes, we managed to defend — one game by 10 runs, one by 4 runs in Kolkata. So it was about holding our nerve till the end and believing in ourselves that we could win the game, provided we got an important wicket or bowled a key over.”