Sachin Tendulkar credits Shardul Thakur's all-round performance for keeping 4th Test alive

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar heaped praise on Indian pacers Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur after the duo combined to pick nine wickets while bundling out Australia for 294 on Day 4 of the series-deciding fourth Test match at the Gabba, Brisbane. 
However, he gave special mention to Shardul Thakur for his excellent all-round performance in this contest.

'Important all round performance': Sachin Tendulkar

Taking to the micro-blogging site, the Master Blaster first congratulated Siraj for registering a fifer in the second innings and then hailed Shardul's important all-round performance which has kept the decider interesting so far and more importantly the Test series alive. 

Mohammed Siraj finished with figures of 5/73 from his 19.5 overs. He accounted for Australia's frontline batsmen (both top and middle-order) that included the key wickets of Marus Labuschagne & Steve Smith before dismissing Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, and Test skipper Tim Paine respectively. 

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Shardul Thakur's contributions with the bat & ball

Thakur has been really impressive in this Test match. He had finished his spell with figures of 3/94 from his 24 overs and then played an outstanding knock with the bat by scoring a precious 67 runs. The duo added 123 runs for the seventh-wicket stand after India were starring down the barrel at 186/6. Their impactful partnership in the middle-order helped India post 336 in reply to Australia's first innings total of 369.

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The Mumbai pacer then went on to make his presence felt in the second innings as well with the ball in hand. Both he and Siraj worked in tandem to restrict Australia to a manageable total. Thakur finished with figures of 4/61 from his 19 overs as the hosts were bundled out for 294 to set India a target of 328 runs to win this match and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India in reply are 4/0 at stumps on Day 4. 

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