It's time we stopped trying to understand Shardul Thakur

4th January, 2022, India find themselves in a bit of bother when Shardul Thakur marks out his run-up to bowl the 37th over. The visitors, who had been bundled out for 202 a day before, haven’t managed to break the Dean Elgar-Keegan Petersen nexus, meaning that the Proteas are threatening to take the game away.

Shardul runs up and bowls a gentle first delivery – a delivery that doesn’t bounce. A ball later, he gets one to rear up and takes the batter by surprise. On the third ball of the over, he induces a false stroke from Elgar but that is quickly followed by a boundary through the cordon.

Thus, when he rocks up to bowl his second over, the initial optimism has evaporated a touch. India are looking towards the skies for some sort of divine intervention, hoping that something will make their misery go away and hand them an avenue back into the game.

While they are gazing at the heavens, Shardul assesses the situation. He has seen Elgar play the line and not follow the ball throughout his vigil. He has also heard countless “oohs” and “aahs” elicited by his countrymen – excitement generated to mask the disappointment of not picking a wicket.

Shardul Thakur picked up seven wickets in the first innings

And then, it all falls into place like it was always meant to. Shardul hangs the ball outside off stump - enough to force Elgar to play and the South African captain, after hours of patience, finally follows the movement.

In essence, Elgar does something he has been intent on not doing. He immediately throws his head back in disgust. He keeps thinking about a reason to explain what he has done. The reason, though, is wheeling away in celebration and sizing up his next prey.

An over later, Petersen, who had looked a million dollars on Day 1 and 2, blazes away to his maiden Test fifty. He creams Mohammed Shami for three boundaries in the over and signals his intention to dominate. He then meets his match in Shardul.

This time, too, Shardul makes him do something that he has been avoiding all day. He gets him to loosely drive at a delivery that just isn’t there to be driven. A thick outside edge and a sharp Mayank Agarwal catch later, he is also contemplating the sudden rush of blood.

The reason, as was the case with Elgar, is off on another celebratory run and is being engulfed by his teammates. He has he bagged two vital Test wickets for himself and has broken open the game – not with the sort of technical skill Jasprit Bumrah usually portrays or the dexterity Shami displays. But just by making things happen.

That isn’t all though. On the stroke of Lunch, Shardul produces another scintillating delivery to outfox Rassie van der Dussen. For much of his spell, Shardul had been intent to take the ball away from the batters. On this occasion, the ball snakes back and the outcome…well, you already know it by now.

A major chunk of the Lunch interval involved discussions about the veracity of Rishabh Pant’s catch. There was a bit of truth to it as well. But the cricketing gods probably thought Shardul deserved another scalp. And, they weren’t entirely wrong either.

That, too, wasn’t all. Just before the Tea break, India again found themselves banging their head against a Kyle Verreynne and Temba Bavuma-shaped wall. The pair had batted exceptionally to dig South Africa out of trouble and seemed primed to capitalize on the relatively old ball.

Shardul, though, didn’t have any of that. He set Verreynne up beautifully, lulled him into a false sense of security, and then made him expose his stumps and his pads – in a manner he hadn’t done for the majority of his knock.

The ball, which pitched on off stump and decked back sharply, ties the wicket-keeper in knots. So much so that it hits both pads and the umpire has no hesitation in raising his finger. At first, Verreynne is bamboozled. But then he realizes that he has come second-best in a contest that was always designed to end in Shardul’s favour.

Bavuma, despite watching the debris at the other end, looked calm at the crease and caressed his way to a half-century. He even brought up his fifty with a boundary off Shardul’s bowling.

But then, he decided it was smart enough to waltz down the track and attack the pacer. The Indian pulled his length back and strangled Bavuma down the leg side.

Again, this was an instance where conventional cricketing logic and wisdom had gone for a toss. Apart from when he was facing Ravichandran Ashwin, Bavuma had not left the comforts of his crease. And, here he was, coming out of his bunker, only to crash and burn.

Interestingly, the first ball of the 67th over, which was faced by Marco Jansen yielded a single – a single that was hotly debated by those in the commentary box, who hinted that India were wrong to let Jansen off the hook so easily. What they didn’t know, though, was that India allowed that single so that Shardul could dismiss Bavuma.

It is very easy to add more meaning to an incident after the benefit of hindsight. But Shardul, in his brief career, has developed quite a reputation for snapping partnerships and established batters.

Thus, there is plenty to suggest that Shardul has something in his locker that other people don’t even know about. It is something that doesn’t really strike you initially but something that comes through ultimately.

The rest of the cricketing community might continue scratching their heads but deep inside, Shardul knows exactly what he is doing. There may be no rhyme or reason for what is happening. It’s just that it is happening.

Shardul (C) makes things happen

Maybe then, the world will be better off trying not to understand what lies behind this enigma – an enigma that springs into life at the most unexpected of junctures and bites like a viper when you least expect him to.

There will be times when there seems to be nothing to his bowling. Yet, there will always be something. And that probably encapsulates Shardul completely.

The further you try to decipher his methods; the more complicated things will get. So, it’s better Shardul is allowed to do the thinking and we are allowed the luxury of watching him do what he does.