From dealing with the dissatisfaction of not being played by his IPL establishment to a vocation best seven-wicket pull in Test cricket, Shardul Thakur has made considerable progress yet his youth mentor Dinesh Lad says he never truly needed to do anything exceptional to form the determined all-rounder except “chipping away at his psychological strength”.

Shardul got back with fine figures of 7/61, his best bowling figures in Tests, as India packaged out the hosts for 229 on the second day of the second Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. It was Lad with whom ‘Master Shardul’ or ‘Palghar Express’, as he is affectionately called now for his notoriety as an association breaker, remained in Mumbai during his early stages.

The 30-year-old made his Test debut against West Indies in October 2018, however needed to hang tight for his next opportunity for a lot of time. Chap, who is additionally the youth mentor of India’s white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma, had only one recommendation for Shardul after he made the public leap forward – “do nothing uniquely”.

“At the point when he was (first) chosen for the West Indies visit, around then I had just told him to do nothing unique. How you have bowled at the Ranji Trophy till now, the same way you need to bowl,” he reviewed.

Shardul, apart from being a pacer, is now a handy batsman, who can chip in with much-needed runs, as he showed in Gabba last year against Australia and Lad remembered how he worked on his grip.

He has now played in all three formats for India and is a regular member of the national team, hails from Palghar but it was on the insistence of Lad that he stayed at his Mumbai house.