‘I’m not going to say it’: When Shardul Thakur determined towards passing on Shastri’s directions to batsmen

Image Source : AP R Sridhar and Ravichandran Ashwin recalled the ultimate day of the Sydney Test, when Shardul Thakur determined towards passing on Ravi Shastri’s directions to Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari placed on a gritty shift on the ultimate day of the Sydney Test to steer India to a combating draw towards Australia earlier this month. The duo was lauded for its wondrous effort regardless of going through accidents — whereas Ashwin was coping with again points, Vihari had pulled his hamstring throughout the second session of the ultimate day.

Both the gamers had been dominated out of the ultimate Test of the sequence in Brisbane. However, India made an unimaginable turnaround regardless of the extreme lack of expertise within the bowling assault to beat Australia by 3 wickets.

Ashwin and Vihari batted a complete of 289 deliveries throughout the unbeaten stand on the ultimate day, however the Indian off-spinner has now revelaed that Shardul Thakur additionally had a task to play within the partnership. During an interview on Ashwin’s official YouTube account, India’s fielding coach R Sridhar revealed how Thakur ‘handed on’ the directions from the dressing room to the pair.

Ravi Shastri had given quite a lot of directions to Thakur to move on to Ashwin and Vihari. However, the Indian pacer, not eager to confuse the batting pair, determined to say nothing.

Sridhar mentioned, “Ravi Shastri had a clear message. He called Shardul Thakur (and said) ‘Shardul, come here and tell them that I told this specifically.’ He (Shardul) was almost shivering. He said ‘ What should I say, sir?’ ‘Tell Ash, that I told him’, Shastri replied. ‘What should I tell him, sir?’, Thakur enquired.”

“Shastri said, ‘Ashwin should take care of this end, and Vihari should bat from the other end. Ashwin is the best batsman against Nathan Lyon in this entire team. So he should bat from this end. He has a huge stride which helps him negate spin so well. Vihari is managing Starc and Cummins really well, getting underneath those bouncers. So ask them to continue’.”

Ashwin mentioned: “Then out came Shardul, running out from the dressing room. He was catching his breath when he reached us. We were like: ‘Just say it man’, while drinking water. Shardul said: ‘They told me so many things from the dressing room’. Yes, please tell, (I said). ‘But I am not going to say any of it,” Shardul replied. “You guys are doing a great job. So please continue.”

Vihari remained unbeaten on 23 runs, going through 161 deliveries, whereas Ashwin performed 128 deliveries for an unbeaten 39.