Michael Vaughan says Old Trafford Test could be the last chance for Shardul Thakur

Former England captain Michael Vaughan reckons the ongoing Test match between India and England could be a last chance for Shardul Thakur to save his Test career. The Mumbai all-rounder was dropped after he could not deliver in the opening Test match at Leeds, Headingley.

Thakur has got his chance in the final XI after Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out of the rest of the series due to a knee injury, which he suffered in the gym.

At the end of day’s play, Thakur was batting unbeaten on 19 with Ravindra Jadeja.

“It feels to me that it could be the last chance saloon (for Thakur). Sometimes, when you are not expected to play, and then you get a chance to play, you produce a bit of magic. He played well tonight with the bat, but his style of bowling on this kind of surface historically has not been that popular,” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.

Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan replaced Karun Nair in the playing XI after the latter could not deliver in the first three Test matches. Sudharsan scored an impressive knock of 61 runs off 151 balls, which is his maiden Test fifty.

“It was a good move actually (bringing back Sai Sudharsan). I thought at the start of the day’s play that it’s a bit harsh on Karun Nair, but then I thought you have to look to the future, and he is going to be around the Indian Test team, probably the Indian teams, for a lot more years,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik is hopeful that Sudharsan is given a long run at the number three position.

“I genuinely wish he is given a long run at No.3, because he is playing in one of the toughest conditions that he is going to face. It was ovecast, it was not easy to bat on Day 1 here, and he did fight it out. In fact, I don’t think he brought out a lot of the shots, it was all about defence,” Dinesh Karthik said.

India ended the opening day’s play at 264-4.