(Cricket news) Shardul Thakur was the underappreciated hero of the Gabba breach earlier this year. After a good white ball tour, he was asked to stay back as a net bowler and a reserve player. The Indian squad was plagued with injuries to fast bowlers Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah. Shardul was given an opportunity to play in the 4th Test at Brisbane.

Shardul's only Test appearance before that was in the West Indies where he went off injured after bowling just 10 balls. He made the most of the opportunity and took 7 wickets and scored 69 invaluable runs in the match. In his most recent performance in the 4th Test against England, he scored fifties in both innings. Shardul's ability with the bat in white ball cricket was never in question but this revelation in the longest format is very good news for India.

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After the World Test Championship loss to New Zealand a lot of attention went to India's lack of seam bowling all rounders like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and more importantly Hardik Pandya. In the very next game against England Shardul was given that role. Although he didn't do much with the bat his bowling was spot on. He looks to have made his place in the red ball squad for a while.

Virat Kohli has been very vocal about Hardik Pandya's role in the Test setup, saying that he has to start bowling to get anywhere near the squad. Pandya hasn't bowled much since his back injury. He did have a decent tour of South Africa and England in 2018 but hasn't been in the side since.

Shardul Thakur has put a lot of pressure on Hardik Pandya that is if the Baroda all-rounder has any intentions of playing Test matches. It's a long way to go before Shardul can consider himself as undroppable in all conditions but he is certainly undroppable in conditions requiring a 4th seamer.