During the third ODI between England and India at Lord's, a light hearted conversation between Shardul Thakur and the commentator quickly became one of the trending moments of the broadcast. As Rohit Sharma batted with a bat that had "Shardul Thakur" written on it, the commentator noticed the name and couldn't resist bringing it up.
"I don't know why, but I think 'Shardul' is written on Rohit's bat. Thakur saab, kahi yeh aapka bat toh nahi?" the commentator asked in Hindi, referring to whether this was his bat.
Shardul, who was in the commentary box, instantly said with a smile, "Yes, this was my bat. Sitting here in the commentary box, I've given India a start in the form of Rohit."
The commentator replied with, "Yeh kamaal ke bande hain ji. Inhe Lord Thakur ka naam diya gaya hai. Match Lord's mein ho raha hai, aur yeh commentary box mein baith kar wickets bhi dila dete hain. Aur ab dekhiye, London mein inke bat se runs bhi ban rahe hain."
Shardul wasn't done yet. With perfect comic timing, he responded, "You can't keep me outside the Indian team." When the broadcasters showed Rohit Sharma's bat, pointing towards the bat, Thakur said, "Read this, Shardul Thakur is written in the bat." The exchange drew laughter and perfectly reflected the all-rounder's easy-going personality.
Rohit Sharma's historic Lord's century came with Shardul Thakur's bat
Although Shardul wasn't part of India's playing XI, He found a way to make his presence felt, with Rohit Sharma using his bat in the middle.
The light-hearted interaction also played into the long-running "Lord Thakur" nickname that fans have affectionately given him over the years. For a brief moment, the conversation in the commentary box became just as entertaining as the action unfolding on the field at Lord's.
Rohit Sharma's historic century against England at Lord's came with a bat gifted to him by teammate Shardul Thakur. Revealing the story behind the willow, Thakur told The Indian Express, "I am signed with SS Bats and Jatin Sareen (owner) has been very kind to send me some excellent pieces of willow. Rohit once requested me to give him a couple of bats since he loved them. We all love him and he's given us so many joyful moments in the game of cricket that denying him the bats was out of the question. And today I am really happy that he scored his historic hundred at Lord's Cricket Ground using one of my bats.”
The hundred was significant for more than just the score. Rohit became the first Indian batter to score an ODI century at Lord's, going past Sourav Ganguly's previous highest score of 90 at the iconic venue. At 39 years and 80 days, he also became the oldest player to score an ODI century at Lord's and India's oldest international centurion across all formats.
