Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur will play County Cricket for England’s Essex County team.  The Indian all-rounder will play seven first-class matches for Essex from the start of the 2025 season. Essex County's director of cricket and former England and Lankan coach Chris Silverwood told the media that they were looking for a player who is a quality bowler and can also bat in the lower order. And that's what we saw in Shardul. He also said that they are eagerly waiting to welcome Shardul to the County Cricket Championship.

The 33-year-old Indian cricketer has so far played 11 Tests, 47 One-Day Internationals and 25 T20 matches in his eight-year cricket career. But he will be playing county cricket for the first time. Shardul Thakur last represented India in the 2023 ODI World Cup. He is in good form in domestic cricket at the moment. He scored a hat-trick with the ball and a responsible innings of 84 runs with the bat against Meghalaya in the Ranji Trophy domestic cricket competition for the return of the national team.

He completed his second century in first-class cricket with 51 in the first innings and 119 in the second innings against Jammu and Kashmir in a group stage match.

Shardul said that he is looking forward to playing county cricket in the upcoming summer and hopes that he can spread his skills and talent here. He added that he had always wanted to play county cricket and was proud to finally represent the Eagles. Shardul's statement was posted on the Essex County website.

It is noted that Shardul Thakur was not picked by any team in the IPL 2025 auction. He remained unsold in the auction. Representing Essex County in that respect owes a lot to Shardul.

 

Writer: Anindya Das is an Associate Editor of The Views Express & an expert in Sports Affairs

(Note: The OPINION section of The Views Express presents the articles or columns by individuals, where the writer exclusively writes on the matters of History, International Relations, Politics, Economy, Literature, Sports etc. on the basis of his or her opinion, knowledge, research & observations on the subject matter)