IND vs. ENG 2021: [Watch] Shardul Thakur dismisses Joe Root with a peach of a delivery

In his short career so far, Shardul Thakur has shown a knack for giving crucial breakthroughs whenever his team desperately needs them.

He continued the trend in the first Test against England as he dismissed opposition skipper Joe Root to break the backbone of England's batting line-up.

Despite all the batters around him struggling to score freely, Joe Root looked in sublime form and scored an impressive 64 in 108 deliveries. It looked like Root would shepherd the innings with tailenders and take England past 200 or 25.

But Shardul Thakur bowled a sumptuous incoming delivery to pin him plumb in front of the stumps in the 59th over.

Shami and Bumrah star for India in the bowling department

Earlier in the day, England had won the toss and elected to bat first on the green track. Jasprit Bumrah(4/46) dismissed Rory Burns in the very first over to give India a good start.

Dom Sibley(18) and Zak Crawley(27) put on a 42-run partnership for the second wicket and tried to steady the innings. Shami(3/23) and Siraj(1/48) dismissed the duo to reduce England to 66/3.

At this stage, Jonny Bairstow(29) and Joe Root played sensible cricket to help their side recover. They stitched a 72-run stand for the fourth wicket before Shami castled Bairstow with a beauty.

Dan Lawrence and Jos Buttler did not disturb the scorers as they perished for a duck. Shardul Thakur wielded his magic by scalping Root and Ollie Robinson in a single over to give India the advantage.

Root looked to be in pristine touch until he was dismissed by a peach of a delivery. Over the course of his innings, the 30-year-old also became the highest run-scorer for England across formats.

Earlier, Alastair Cook held the record with 15737 runs. Joe Root overtook that tally in the afternoon session and then went on to score his 50th half-century in Test cricket.

About the author

Balakrishna has been a cricket writer at Sportskeeda for almost seven years. A sport that he has been following and playing since he was eight, Balakrishna enjoys the intensity of the sport, skills and strategies applied to get a result out of nowhere, and the thrill that it gives. He also played as a medium pace bowling all-rounder in four inter-college tournaments, winning twice.

Balakrishna’s all-time favorite cricketers are Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma. He admires Sachin’s stellar performances against legendary bowlers, along with his discipline and humility. Meanwhile, he is a big fan of how Rohit turned around his initial struggles to build a successful career.

He avidly supports Team India and 2016 IPL winners SunRisers Hyderabad. The first World Cup that Balakrishna ever saw was the 2003 World Cup, when Australia comprehensively triumphed over India in the final.

While working, he ensures he only uses reliable sources and provides relevant, ethical, and accurate information. When not working, Balakrishna enjoys playing table tennis and reading non-fiction books.

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