![\"Shardul](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/India-IPL-Cricket-42_1774799399108_1774799419195.jpg\" "\\"Shardul")
Shardul Thakur celebrates the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane. (AP)<\/p>\nThere are bowlers who dominate an innings, and then there are bowlers who disturb it. Shardul Thakur has built his identity in the second category. In MI\u2019s first match against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2026, his figures of 4-0-39-3 did not tell the story of blanket control. They told a more valuable T20 story – the story of a bowler who kept striking at the exact moments when the batting side seemed ready to take the game away.<\/p>\n
Shardul Thakur celebrates the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane. (AP)<\/p>\n
That is why the phrase \u201cgolden arm\u201d has followed him for years. It is not about looking unplayable every over. It is about producing breakthroughs when his team urgently demands one. Against KKR, Thakur\u2019s spell fit that reputation perfectly. He removed the batter who had blown open the powerplay, the batter who threatened to carry that momentum deeper, and the batter who was controlling the innings heading into the most dangerous phase.<\/p>\n
The wickets that changed the shape of the innings<\/strong><\/p>\n His first strike came at 69 for 0 on the second delivery of the sixth over, when Finn Allen<\/a> fell for 37 off 17 balls. That dismissal mattered beyond the name on the scorecard. Allen had given KKR early violence, and with the powerplay still alive, Mumbai were in danger of letting the innings explode before they could settle. By removing him then, Thakur prevented that opening burst from becoming something even more damaging.<\/p>\n The second wicket came at 109 for 1 on the fifth delivery of the ninth over, when Cameron Green<\/a> departed for 18 off 10. That was another critical interruption. Green had come in and kept the scoring rate moving, which meant KKR were not slowing after the first wicket. Thakur\u2019s intervention stopped that continuity. Instead of moving from one clean phase of aggression into another, KKR were forced to rebuild again.<\/p>\n Then came the biggest strike of the spell. Ajinkya Rahane<\/a> had reached 67 off 40 and had become the controlling force of the innings when Thakur removed him at 145 for 2 on the third delivery of the 14th over. This was the most significant wicket because Rahane was no longer merely scoring quickly; he was shaping the entire innings and setting KKR up for a full-scale assault at the death. Thakur ensured that the batter most capable of converting a strong platform into a monstrous finish did not stay long enough to do it.<\/p>\n Also Read: <\/strong>MI vs KKR LIVE Score, IPL 2026: KKR finish on 220\/4, Mumbai pull things back after early carnage but need record chase<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n