How Zaheer Khan's call gave Shardul Thakur a shot at redemption in IPL

First time in eight years, Shardul Thakur was staring at an empty calendar during March-May. Since December 2023, he has not been in the mix for India Cricket Team either. And after going unsold twice at the IPL 2025 auction, his career suddenly seemed over at 33. But as Shardul does it often, he came back strong. With loads of runs and wickets in Ranji Trophy, he announced his return. With no IPL contact, he decided to play in County Championship in England in the hopes of pleasing selectors for an India comeback. But it all changed with Zaheer Khan giving him a call just days before the start of IPL.

Lucknow Super Giants signed Zaheer Khan as their mentor. But he found himself in a spot of bother with the entire LSG seam attack stuck in the NCA. Mohsin Khan was finally ruled out while Mayank Yadav was sidelined in the first half of IPL. Avesh Khan missed the first match. Zaheer made a desperate call to Shardul to join the team. As the fate would have it, Shardul went from unsold in IPL auction to the Purple Cap holder in the tournament with five wickets in the first two matches.

“In IPL, all these things keep happening. Unfortunately few injuries here and there, and there were a few inquiries if I could join the camp. But LSG approached me first, so I had to accept it. Zaheer Khan gave me a call. You have good and bad days, you have to go through them in cricket,” Shardul Thakur said after bowling his best spell in IPL with 4/34 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

SHARDUL STRIKES!

The dangerous #AbhishekSharma falls into the trap as he gets caught at fine leg off #ShardulThakur’s clever delivery!

Watch LIVE action: https://t.co/f9h0ie1eiG #IPLonJioStar #SRHvLSG | LIVE NOW on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 Hindi & JioHotstar! pic.twitter.com/hx4H3wO2EN
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 27, 2025

What a turnaround!

Shardul Thakur went from 21 wickets in 2021, 15 wickets in 2022 to just 7 wickets in 2023 and 5 wickets in 2024. That saw his stocks dip. With regular injuries also hampering his progress, he went from a Rs 10.75 Cr player in 2023 to Rs 4 crore in 2024 and then unsold in 2025.

“Yes, for the last 10 years, I have been a part of the IPL and have even won championships. In a player’s life, performances go up and down, but the quality remains. Even then, I told myself that it is okay that I did not get any chances in this IPL, but whenever an opportunity comes, it will be huge, and for that, I need to be ready,” Shardul said in December.

SHARDUL THAKUR – PURPLE CAP HOLDER AFTER BEING UNSOLD. pic.twitter.com/CubMyG2WSK
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 27, 2025

And boy, he was ready! Even though Shardul Thakur bowled just two overs against Delhi Capitals, he bagged two wickets in the first over with the new ball. He dismissed Jake Fraser-McGurk and Abhishek Porel to reduce DC to 2/2 in the first over.

But against Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fiery batters, he excelled. As the batters came hard at the bowlers, he went hard against the batters in SRH vs LSG clash.

Shardul Thakur’s victims in SRH vs LSG

Abhishek Sharma (6)
Ishan Kishan (0)
Abhinav Manohar (2)
Mohammed Shami (1)

“It’s always good to be in the scoresheet but winning the game is important to me. I keep doing something or the other. I don’t look much at the wickets column or runs column. I just want to put in match-winning performances,” Shardul said at the innings break.

With 4/34, Shardul Thakur received the IPL 2025 Purple Cap with 6 wickets in two matches. But how did he turn things around? He kept it simple: go hard at the batters if they go hard at you.

“They are coming hard at bowlers, so why not go hard at them? The plan was to collectively go hard at them. We thought if we get early wickets, we’d do well because they have been going heavy from the start on flat pitches,” Shardul added.