LSG pacer Shardul slams commentators for 'trying to be hard' on bowlers after win vs GT

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bowler Shardul Thakur did not mince his words to lash out at commentators for their criticism against the bowlers following the side’s six-wicket win over Gujarat Titans at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Saturday, April 12. 

Lucknow Super Giants registered their four win of the IPL 2025 with a victory over Gujarat Titans with a target of 181, LSG chased it down with three balls to spare. Nicholas Pooran led the run-chase with a brilliant innings of 61 off 34 balls and Aiden Markram contributed with a knock of 58 off 31 balls. The young batter Ayush Badoni chipped in with the innings of 28 off 20 balls to help the side chase down an 181-run target in the final over of the match. 

Shardul Thakur played a pivotal role in restricting Gujarat Titans below 200 despite fiery performances by openers Shubman Gill (60) and Sai Sudharsan (56). Thakur picked the wickets of Sherfane Rutherford and Rahul Tewatia to register figures of 2/34 at an economy rate of 8.50 in four overs. Apart from Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi (2/36), Digvesh Singh Rathi (1/30), and Avesh Khan (1/32) too contributed with disciplined spells to ensure Gujarat Titans could not capitalize on their strong start. 

Also read: IPL 2025: LSG batter Nicholas Pooran opens up on his strokeplay after win against GT

Shardul Thakur slams commentators

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Shardul Thakur lambasted commentators for their constant criticism against the bowlers, stating that they don’t understand the evolving nature of T20 cricket, where 200-run total has become quite common in the format.

“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.” the 33-year-old said. 

“But you have to understand that cricket is moving in a certain direction where 200+ scores are becoming more common. And like you said, criticism will always be there — especially from commentators," he added. 

LSG pacer asks commentators to check their own stats

Further criticizing commentators for their comments on bowlers, Shardul Thakur asked them to look at their own stats before making comments on the bowlers. 

"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. I’m sure they should look at their own stats before criticising anyone," LSG pacer added. 

Shardul Thakur, who went unsold at the IPL 2025 auction, came in as a replacement for Mohsin Khan, who has been ruled out of the season due to injury. The 33-year-old emerged as the lead pacer, scalping 11 wickets, including four-wicket haul, at an average of 19.81 and an economy rate of 10.38. Thakur is currently second on the Purple Cap list, behind Chennai Super Kings’ Noor Ahmad (12). 

Shardul Thakur on defending totals on the occasions

Shardul Thakur spoke about Lucknow Super Giants successfully defending their totals in the two matches despite absence of an overseas bowler in their lineup. Thakur spoke about the importance of defending the totals while holding their nerves till the last over. 

“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.” LSG pacer said. 

“So it was about holding our nerve till the end and believing in ourselves that we could win the game, provided we got an important wicket or bowled a key over,” he added.

With a fourth win of the season, Lucknow Super Giants moved to the third spot on the IPL 2025 points table with 8 points and have a NRR of +0.162.

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