Mumbai: After scoring a valuable half-century in the first innings of the final, all-rounder Shardul Thakur asserted that a small technical change in his stance and style has helped him to perform better with bat in both semi-final and summit clash here.
Shardul Thakur scored a quickfire 75-run knock off just 69 balls in the first innings for Mumbai against Vidarbha on the opening day of the summit clash to take Mumbai past the 200-run mark. He had also scored his maiden first-class Test century (109 off 105 balls) during the semi-final against Tamil Nadu to help his side register a dominant victory over the visitors.
Speaking at the post-match presentation of the final, Shadul said, "Vilas Godbole sir suggested to me to flex the knees slightly more while batting. I have tried it out and am glad it's worked out. Disappointed at missing out on a hundred but it's never about individual milestones, everything is about the team."
In an Exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat, former noted domestic coach Vilas Godbole said, “I always believed that Shardul is a good batter even though he is not getting the runs. Luckily I met him (at) BKC before the semifinals.”
“I discussed certain points. I told him that his present stance is such that he keeps a distance between his legs resulting in him being stranded. His footwork gets restricted. Hence, I asked him to reduce the distance between his legs to maintain a body weight equally for better footwork either for the front foot or backfoot,” Godbole said when asked about the advice he gave to Shardul.
“While facing a bowler, go down flexed knees and shoulders tilted down. That will help you to come to the level of the bounce of the ball and never come down with both legs instead learn to anchor the back legs. Try to go closer to the pitch of the ball if you are coming dancing down the track and then only play shots,” Godbole added.
Vilas Godbole has completed fifty years of coaching career in cricket and has penned ‘Cricket Coaching and Beyond’ along with a co-author Amit Gadkari based on his experiences.
Godbole has helped many cricketers over the years by sharing his valuable knowledge of the games including Sanjay Manjarekar and Suryakumar Yadav.
Coming to the match, the domestic giants Mumbai ended their eight-year trophy drought by clinching a record-extending 42nd Ranji Trophy title, beating Vidarbha by 169 runs on the fifth and final day of the summit clash at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
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