Former South African skipper, Faf du Plessis revealed how he underestimated Shardul Thakur until the Indian pacer’s fireworks with the bat helped Chennai Super Kings (CSK) get the better of SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier 1 in 2018.
In the 2018 IPL Qualifier, CSK were chasing a target of 140 runs, but they were then struggling at 62 for six by the Hyderabad bowlers. However, du Plessis’ valiant innings got CSK close to the target. But the team kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reeling at 113 runs for the loss of eight wickets.
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It was then that Shardul came out to bat at number 10 and smashed 15 runs off just five balls to take his side over the line.
Recalling the knock on CSK’s Youtube channel, Faf said, “We were in huge trouble as we had lost all our wickets. Its one of those games where you hope you can do something great but it seems a long way away when everyone’s out and just me (du Plessis) left.”
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He further added, “But the guys who came in, I remember Shardul was unbelievable. I have never seen him bat before, so he came in and I was like probably gonna be tail-ender. He is going to hit one and then he”s gonna get out. But he batted even better than me there for a while. He was unbelievable!”
CSK defeated SRH by two wickets in the game. Later on, in the final, CSK again defeated SRH to clinch their third IPL trophy. Du Plessis would have been in action for CSK in IPL 2020 if the tournament had started on March 29. However, the tournament was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
