Shardul Thakur's journey this season has been remarkable, transitioning from being unsold at the IPL 2025 auction to leading the league in wicket-taking after the Lucknow Super Giants' second match. The pacer, who joined as an emergency replacement due to injuries among key bowlers, has quickly established himself as the spearhead of their pace attack, achieving a four-wicket haul that dismantled Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday.

In just his second over, Thakur made a significant impact by taking two wickets in consecutive deliveries, dismissing the formidable Abhishek Sharma and last match's centurion Ishan Kishan. He first caught Abhishek off guard with a short ball that led to a mistimed pull, easily caught at deep square. Following that, Ishan edged a seemingly innocuous delivery down the leg side to the wicketkeeper, departing without scoring.

Although Travis Head posed a significant threat with a rapid 47 off 28 balls, Thakur's early strikes prevented Sunrisers Hyderabad from gaining full momentum. He later returned to claim the wickets of key hitters during the death overs, concluding with impressive figures of 4/34, which earned him the prestigious Purple Cap.

During a mid-innings interview, Thakur proudly wore the Purple Cap and reflected on his experience of being unsold at the auction. He described that day as disappointing but expressed no hesitation when the Lucknow Super Giants reached out to him.

“In the IPL, such situations are common. Unfortunately, there were a few injuries, and I received inquiries about joining the camp. However, LSG was the first to approach me, so I accepted. Zaheer Khan called me. Cricket has its ups and downs, and you must navigate through them,” Thakur remarked.

While social media buzzed with surprise over his initial oversight by franchises, Thakur chose to let his performance speak for itself.

“For me, winning is paramount. I don’t focus on the number of wickets or runs. My goal is to make an impact and deliver match-winning performances. Batters are aggressive towards bowlers, so why shouldn’t bowlers respond in kind? That was our strategy against SRH, especially since they have been scoring heavily.”

SRH score 190/9

Upon being invited to bat first, the Sunrisers faced an early setback with two quick wickets. However, the remaining batters ensured that these early losses did not significantly affect their scoring rate. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the Sunrisers successfully managed to set a formidable total of 190/9.

Since the previous year's IPL, SRH has established a reputation for their aggressive batting, frequently surpassing the 200-run mark when batting first. In their opening match of the 2025 season, the Sunrisers came remarkably close to surpassing their own record for the highest innings total, finishing with a score of 286/6 against the Rajasthan Royals.

Read Also: Women’s Nationals: Sikkim Achieves Historic Boxing Medal

"Get the latest Bollywood entertainment news, trending celebrity news, latest celebrity news, new movie reviews, latest entertainment news, latest Bollywood news, and Bollywood celebrity fashion & style updates!"