Shardul Thakur

Hailing from the small town of Palghar, Maharashtra, Thakur was faced with the oft-mentioned and seldom-addressed problem of traveling nearly a hundred kilometers to Mumbai to pursue his cricketing dreams. From a stereotypical young boy from cricketing backwaters dragging his cricket kit to practice to the most sought-after pace bowler in the Mumbai domestic circuit, Thakur's journey has been one of perseverance and hard work.

In his debut season for Mumbai, his team won the Ranji Trophy (hardly a surprise) but Shardul's personal numbers were fairly underwhelming as he picked up just 4 wickets in as many matches. Nevertheless, Thakur, hardly possessing the build of an athlete at the time, worked on his fitness and honed his skills as he continued to improve in the domestic fold, taking 27 wickets in 6 games in his next season and peaked in the 2013/14 season, taking 48 wickets from 10 games which included an unparalleled five 5-wicket hauls.

Despite consistent performances, Shardul found it difficult to catch the eye of the national selectors owing to a large number of fast bowlers in the fringes of the national side. However, it was during the Ranji final of 2015/16 that the selectors finally took notice of him, having found what they were looking for - the stomach for a fight in a big match. On the biggest domestic stage in Indian cricket, Shardul took 8 wickets in the final and breached one of the most impenetrable defenses in the world (that of Cheteshwar Pujara) with an unplayable delivery to lead his side to their 41st Ranji Trophy victory.