The fast bowler became the highest Indian wicket-taker in an innings during the second Test against South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
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India fast bowler Shardul Thakur ran through the South African top and middle-order to script history on Day 2 of the second Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Thakur, 30, picked up seven wickets to record the most wickets by an Indian bowler in an innings at the venue. Thakur returned the figures of 7/61 in the first innings to bowl out South Africa for 229 runs, with India conceding a lead of 27 runs. It is also the best figures for an Indian bowler in South Africa or home conditions. Besides that, the Palghar Express recorded the joint-best figure for any bowler at the Wanderers, joining former England cricketer Matthew Hoggard. The Englishman had recorded a similar figure in 2004-06.
It was also a significant achievement for Thakur as he broke the crucial 87-run stand for the third wicket between Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen by dismissing the former in the 43rd over.
Apart from that, Thakur got rid of the in-form South Africa captain Dean Elgar (28), as his first scalp of the match. He continued on his fine run to unallow Rassie van der Dussen (1) as he dismissed him cheaply.
More importantly, Temba Bavuma (51), who looked in fine touch in his innings was also dismissed by Thakur while Kyle Verreynne (21), Marco Jansen (21) and Lungi Ngidi (0) were also among the wickets that he scalped.
In the process, Thakur surpassed the previous best record of former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, who had returned figures of 6/53 at the same venue in 1992-93.
The fast bowler, meanwhile, also surpassed former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh to record the best figures by a national team player in South Africa. The off-spinner, who recently called time on his career, had the figures of 7/120 in Cape Town, 2010-11.
Meanwhile, Thakur also recorded the overall best figures by an Indian bowler, as his compatriot and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had picked up 7/66 in Nagpur back in 2015-16.
He holds an average of 23.75 in the longest format — the best across formats — with a brilliant economy rate of 3.46. In first-class cricket, Thakur, has scaled 223 wickets in 67 matches with an average of 28.22 and economy rate of 3.17.
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