Having gone unsold at the auction, Shardul Thakur was scheduled to play for Essex in seven County Championship games during April and May.

But a phone call from Lucknow Super Giants mentor Zaheer Khan changed it all. The franchise was struggling following injuries to four of their pacers.

Mohsin Khan had been ruled out for the season, Avesh Khan was a doubtful starter, Akash Deep was rehabilitating at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence and there was no guarantee when Mayank Yadav would be match-fit.

Shardul had been in fine rhythm in the Ranji Trophy, taking 35 wickets in nine games besides crucial contributions with the bat down the order. Mumbai had immensely benefited from Shardul on their way to the semi-finals.

With six wickets in two matches, Shardul has an average of 8.83 and an identical economy rate. That after the pacer had a fine start in their opener against Delhi Capitals, picking two wickets in the Powerplay, but didn’t get to bowl his remaining two overs in the match.

“While we were playing Ranji Trophy knockouts, Zaheer Khan made a call and he said we are looking at you as a potential replacement,” Shardul said on Thursday. “So don’t switch yourself off and keep your plans ready. Probably if you come in as a replacement, you will start. That was the day I started to get into the IPL mindset again and the hopes came back.”

Shardul will no longer join Essex and will stay with the Super Giants till the end of their IPL 2025 campaign. He came away with career-best IPL figures of 4/34 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday and also reached 100 IPL wickets.

He also became the first bowler this season to concede less than six runs in a single over to Sunrisers, pulling it off in the 19th over.

“It was just one bad day at the auction, I didn’t get picked by any of the franchises. But, unfortunately, a few injuries here and there, there were a few inquiries whether I could join the camp. But LSG was the one who approached me first, so I had to give them preference... Zaheer Khan, he gave me a call. And it was always on the cards, I had to accept it,” Shardul said.

“And, like I always say, skills are always there, talent is always there. It’s just about the form and bad days... you have to go through it in cricket.’

He came out with a definite plan against the Sunrisers batters and succeeded.

“I think they are coming hard at bowlers, so why not bowlers go hard at them? So the talk was around what the plan should be and we collectively said let’s go hard at them, let’s take our chances,” Shardul said.