April 13, 2025: Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacer Shardul Thakur has responded strongly to commentators who criticized his bowling performance in the ongoing IPL 2025 season. Thakur, who was brought in as a replacement for the injured Mohsin Khan, addressed the criticism during a post-match press conference after LSG’s recent victory.
The 33-year-old bowler expressed his frustration with how commentators tend to be harsh on bowlers, especially when high-scoring matches have become the norm in modern-day T20 cricket. He explained that the increasing frequency of 200-plus scores in matches often makes it harder for bowlers to maintain tight economies. Thakur emphasized that commentators, who are not on the field, often fail to see the real picture.
“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,” Thakur said.
He added, “Like you said, criticism will always be there, especially from commentators. 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.”
Despite conceding 34 runs in four overs during LSG’s match on April 12, Thakur bowled economically in the death overs, dismissing Sherfane Rutherford and Rahul Tewatia off consecutive deliveries in the final over. His performance helped him move closer to the top of the wicket-taking charts, with 11 wickets from six games and a bowling average of 19.81. However, his economy rate of 10.38 runs per over remains the highest among the top 20 wicket-takers this season.
Thakur also credited the entire bowling unit for LSG’s success, particularly their ability to defend scores in challenging conditions. He reflected on their narrow wins while defending totals against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where LSG managed to hold their ground and win by 10 and 4 runs, respectively.
“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,” said Thakur.
Currently sitting third in the points table with four wins from six games, LSG will be hoping to continue their momentum in the upcoming match against MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 14. With key players like Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, and Aiden Markram in fine form, LSG will look to build on their recent successes.