Bharat Arun reveals what paved way for Shardul Thakur's success with the bat in Gabba Test

Team India's bowling coach Bharat Arun has revealed how batting coach Vikram Rathour put in extra efforts to ensure that the bowlers batted in the nets and it was a move that eventually paid off during the recently-concluded series-deciding fourth Test match at the Gabba, Brisbane.

Arun's remarks came after pacer Shardul Thakur's gutsy knock of 67 as he was India's top-scorer in the first innings. 

'We always knew Shardul can bat': Bharat Arun

"We always knew Shardul can bat because when he had batted in a few of the One-Day games he had come with the cameo innings on many occasions. We were aware that Shardul is capable of batting," said Arun while replying to a query from ANI.

"Every session in the nets, Shardul would get half an hour to bat during the Test series. Vikram would be working with all the reserves and we had those slingers with us who did an exceptional job, feeding these bowlers balls to play with and that really helped us," he added.

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Shardul Thakur's contributions with the bat & ball

Thakur made a tremendous impact with both bat and the ball at the Gabba.  He had finished his spell with figures of 3/94 from his 24 overs and then played an outstanding knock with the bat by scoring a precious 67. He and Washington Sundar added 123 runs for the seventh-wicket stand after the Men In Blue were starring down the barrel at 186/6. Their impactful partnership in the middle-order helped India post 336 in reply to Australia's first innings total of 369.

The Mumbai pacer then went on to make his presence felt in the second innings as well with the ball in hand. Both he and Siraj worked in tandem to restrict Australia to a manageable total. Thakur finished with figures of 4/61 from his 19 overs as the hosts were bundled out for 294 to set India a target of 328 runs.

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Team India rewrite history

After losing Rohit Sharma early on Day 5, it seemed as if the visitors would settle for a draw. However, Shubman Gill had other ideas as he kept them in the hunt with a solid 91. Gill's batting partner Cheteshwar Pujara on the other hand made the Australian bowlers toil hard for his wicket even though they were resorting to bodyline bowling tactics.

The number three Test batsman stood tall by braving constant bouncer barrage and played an impactful knock of 56 runs from 211 deliveries and once he was dismissed, it seemed as if it would open the floodgates for the hosts. Nonetheless, Rishabh Pant had other ideas as he toyed around with the Aussies bowlers and brought India within touch distance of victory.

In the end, the young wicket-keeper batsman (89*) hit the winning runs as all the members of the Indian team ran towards the ground to celebrate. Thus, Ajinkya Rahane & Co. ended up retaining the Border Gavaskar Trophy by winning the four-match series 2-1 and India registered back-to-back Test series triumphs Down Under.

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(With ANI Inputs)