'Last Year England Chased 400': Shardul Thakur Feels WTC Final Far From Over, Says 'Even 450 Can be..'

Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur feels that the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and Australia is from over, even though Pat Cummins’ side are in the driver’s seat ahead of the last two days having a lead of 296 runs after Day 3.

Thakur however remained hopeful of a record chase from India, taking inspiration from Australia’s Ashes rivals England who chased down 400 odd runs in their one-off Test at Birmingham against Rohit Sharma’s side.

Speaking in the press conference after Stumps on Day 3, Shardul said that even a figure of 450 is chasable, as Australia were looking to build a big lead after restricting India to 296.

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Thakur though played a crucial knock of as he scored a half-century, helping Rohit and Co. avoid the dreaded follow-on.

“Well, cricket is a funny game. You can never say what is the right total and this one-off game, especially ICC finals, you never know, I mean, who can handle the pressure better out there, one good partnership when you can even chase down 450 or maybe more than that,” said the 31-year-old.

India took a 2-1 lead in their five-match Test series against England although the fifth match was postponed and when the same was played last year Ben Stokes’ side were able to chase down a 378-run target to level the series 2-2.

“Last year England chased 400 here and they did not lose too many wickets. So that’s a positive sign for us. Whatever they put up on the board, it’s too early to make any predictions. We see a lot of times in Test cricket that game changes within an hour. So yes, we like to be optimistic tomorrow going on the field. And yeah, we’ll take it on from there,” added Shardul.

Thakur’s 109-run stand with Ajinkya Rahane helped India remain afloat in the contest following a top-order collapse as the duo’s seventh-wicket partnership on Day 3 saved the day. Shedding light on what they were talking about, with a daunting Australian total on the board, the all-rounder revealed that they just decided to soak up the pressure.

“We didn’t decide anything. There was no situation to decide anything. We just had to absorb the pressure. We were talking to each other a lot,” Thakur revealed.