Shardul Thakur broke his ex-franchise Kolkata Knight Riders’ hearts when he took wickets at crucial junctures for Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League opener on Sunday. With the Knights cruising at 69 in the 6th over with skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Finn Allen in ominous form, Shardul provided the breakthrough, taking out the Kiwi opener for 37. He would strike once again in the 9th over sending back KKR’s 25.20 crore allrounder Cameron Green for 18 before coming back and snapping up Rahane for 67 in the 14th over. KKR couldn’t quite recover from those body blows and even though Angkrish Raghuvanshi managed a half century, they could post 220, a score that looked a bit under-par in Wankhede’s batting friendly surface. “I told him this season, I said, ‘enough hopping of the franchises. I want you to be here for the rest of your career.’ He’s a character. He has a big heart. The way he comes out and kind of always tries to outsmart a batter, simply brilliant and really happy for him,” MI skipper Hardik Pandya gushed in praise for Thakur after the match. Also Read | First time since 2012, Mumbai Indians begin IPL campaign with win as Rohit Sharma rolls back clock “I was a net bowler and an upcoming boy who has been with the team in 2010, 2011, 2012 seasons. Quietly bowling here, making my mark and since then it was always going to happen, but it finally happened that I am in Mumbai Indians playing for my home team, so it feels special. I will be very happy if I stay here. It’s home city and the kind of backing that I had coming here, it was amazing. So, thank you to the entire Mumbai Indians family also for backing me, trading me from LSG and straightaway awarding me in the first game,” Shardul said. In the match, Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma slammed quickfire fifties to hand Mumbai Indians a comfortable six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders. Chasing 221, Rickelton (81 off 43 balls) and Rohit (78 off 38 balls) shared a breezy 148-run opening stand off just 71 balls to set the platform for the win which MI achieved in 19.1 overs, reaching 224 for four. It was also a record chase by MI at home ground. While Rickelton hit four boundaries and eight sixes, Rohit knock was laced with six fours and as many maximums.
‘Enough hopping of the franchises’: Hardik Pandya wants Shardul Thakur to stay at MI for rest of career after match-winning performance vs KKR
