Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody reckons Shardul Thakur’s value will suffer because of the impact player rule. Thakur was released by Kolkata Knight Riders on the deadline day for IPL 2024 retentions.
In fact, Thakur was acquired by Delhi Capitals during the IPL Mega Auction 2022 at a whopping price of ₹10.75 crore but he later moved to Kolkata Knight Riders.
Thakur has scalped 89 wickets in 86 IPL matches at an average of 28.76 but he concedes his runs at a high economy rate of 9.16. Meanwhile, the impact player was introduced in IPL 2023, and with it, the role of all-rounders have diminished in the tournament.
On the other hand, former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir has been roped in as a mentor by the franchise.
“It looks like Gambhir is going to put his thumbprint on this auction. There’s no question of that. I thought KKR were on the wrong end of the Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur trade. I didn’t think it was a very good trade at all. Sharduk Thakur is a perfect example of a cricketer that will suffer with regards to what their value is due to the impact player rule,” said Moody on ESPN Cricinfo.
Meanwhile, Thakur scored 113 runs while picking seven wickets in 11 matches last season for KKR. Moody reckons Thakur can’t bat in the top six and he also doesn’t guarantee four overs in all the matches he plays.
“You can’t guarantee four overs out of him every single game. You can’t really bat him in your top-seven. He’s not an eight, but he’s not really a seven either. He’s a seven if your top order is flying and are in form. He’s a good all round cricketer, but you know he doesn’t fit in your top six as a batter like a Hardik Pandya, and he doesn’t guarantee you for over. So he gives you that sort of uncertainty,” Moody added.
List of released players by KKR
Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Johnson Charles.
List of retained players by KKR
Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, Jason Roy (replacement).
