Ind vs Eng / Shardul Thakur smashes 65-ball fifty after hitting 31-ball fifty in first innings

Cricket Desk: Shardul Thakur may have looked slightly lacklustre with the ball in hand during England's first innings, but his effort with the bat has done more than enough to make up for it.

If the half-century in the first innings of the fourth Test at the Oval wasn't impressive enough, Thakur went repeated his exploits with the bat in the second dig as well. Thakur scored his second fifty of the match – and the third of his Test career – and added a 100-run partnership with Rishabh Pant to bring India back in contention of a win.

Thakur hit seven fours and a six en route to an innings of 60 and took India’s lead past the 300-run margin. He, along with Pant helped India regrouped after they had lost three wickets – Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli – in the first session on Sunday. 

As Thakur got to his fifty, his teammates stood up in the change room and applauded his knock. However, the Indian players weren't the only ones who were awed by Thakur's batting. The world of Twitter was equally amused and as usual, took to the social media platform to express their admiration for 'Lord' Thakur.

With his fifty, Thakur became the third Indian batsman to score a fifty in each innings of a Test match in England while batting at No.8, after Harbhajan Singh and Wriddhiman Saha.

Meanwhile, India headed into the tea break at 445/8, with a lead of 346 against England. The highest successful fourth-innings chase at the venue is under 300, which gives India a great chance on paper to acquire back lead in the series.