'Australian players were trying to have a conversation with me', reveals Shardul Thakur

Shardul Thakur, who is just playing his second Test match, impressed everyone with his all-round performance against Australia in the fourth Test. The India player scalped three crucial wickets and also scored a crucial maiden Test half-century to put visitors back in contention.

However, during the post-match virtual press conference, Thakur revealed that Australians were trying to have a conversation with the player. "Australian players were trying to have a conversation with me, but I was not replying. I just replied once or twice, there were a lot of normal questions, even if they were trying to sledge me, I did not hear it, I just played on," Thakur said during the post-match virtual press conference.

Thakur has surprised many oppositions with the bat on previous occasions also. In 2020, Thakur smashed 17 runs off 6 balls to help India win by four wickets.

"I have the talent for batting, whenever there are throwdowns taking place in nets, I practice my batting, these are the type of moments for which we practice our batting. An opportunity presented itself in this match, I knew that the team would benefit if I stay at the crease for a long haul. I haven't batted with Sundar much, I have just batted with him once or twice, once it was in a T20 match and once it was a practice game," Thakur added.

He went on to talk about the 123-run partnership with Sundar and how their minds were working while they were batting.

"Both of us have that temperament to succeed at this level, honestly we were not looking at the scoreboard, the idea was to spend some time in the middle. We knew their bowlers were tiring, it was a matter of one hour, if we hung in there for one more hour then probably, we would be on the top as the bowlers were already tiring. Both of us were communicating really well in the middle, if someone was losing control or trying a rash shot, we were immediately communicating that let's get back to normal," Thakur said.

"We were trying to defend a lot, as our partnership went on, we know there is some true bounce here at Gabba, we were just waiting for our chance, whenever there was a loose delivery, we were trying to put that away. It is a long tour, as a player, it is challenging to stay motivated and do well in the last game, the series is tied at 1-1, this game turns out to be the series decider so you do not need extra motivation, it is about giving 100 per cent for the team."