Shardul Thakur was finally picked in the Playing XI of the Indian cricket team in the fourth Test match that Virat Kohli’s team India is currently playing against England and he made the most out of the opportunity given to him.

After getting snubbed for the second and third matches at Lord’s, and Headingley Carnegie, it was once again in London that Thakur got the duty call, this time at the Oval cricket ground and the medium-fast bowling all-rounder was not letting go of this one.

So when the entire batting order with the exception of Kohli himself, failed to put on more than 17 runs on the scoreboard, Thakur, batting at the 8th spot walked down to the pitch, took Test cricket as if it was an ODI and started swinging for the fences.

Within just 31 deliveries that he faced, Thakur not only improved Team India’s first innings total by a huge margin, he also broke the record for being the second fastest Indian batsman to score a half-ton, falling just one ball behind the legendary Kapil Dev who reached the milestone in 30 deliveries.

Fastest Test 50s for India

30b - Kapil Dev
31b - Shardul Thakur*
32b - Virender Sehwag#INDvENG @imShard pic.twitter.com/Hpdm2ARVad

Thakur would go on to become the highest scoring batsman across both sides of the game by the end of Day 1 of the penultimate Test. And by the time the sun had set in the United Kingdom, the tales of ‘Lord’ Shardul Thakur were already crossing national borders as some of the biggest names of the game were completely amazed.

The nickname tag has been around Thakur’s neck for a few years now and even though it started out as a sarcastic jab at the all-rounder’s struggles as a newbie in the national team and the Indian Premier League, it became more genuine in love and regard over time.

Lord Thakur this innings: #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/cL7NV6Wyzq

So when he was asked about how he felt about having such a grand nickname, here’s how the 29-year old reacted:

"I have only two nicknames, ‘Lord’ is just a meme started in social media but I am pretty happy that I am getting lots of love from the teammates & fans across the world," he said with an innocent smile in the virtual press conference after Day 1 action.

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