"They should be looking at their own stats" - LSG star's scathing remark on commentators' criticism during IPL 2025

Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur made a scathing remark on the commentators following their victory over Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2025 game at the Ekana Stadium on Saturday. The seam-bowling all-rounder said the commentators must look at their statistics before passing a remark on others.

Thakur, who came in as an injury replacement for Mohsin Khan, has picked wickets regularly for LSG and at crucial junctures. The right-arm seamer is currently the second-highest wicket-taker in the competition with 11 wickets in six innings at 19.81, including a four-wicket haul.

Speaking at the press conference after the win over the Titans, Thakur stressed that the commentators have been overly critical of bowlers, claiming they must understand that 200+ scores have become common. The 33-year-old believes it's easy for them to speak by sitting in a studio, saying, as quoted by India Today:

"I’ve always believed that, as a bowling unit, we’ve bowled well throughout the season. A lot of times in commentary, there’s criticism — they try to be hard on the bowlers. But you have to understand that cricket is moving in a certain direction where 200+ scores are becoming more common. And like you said, criticism will always be there — especially from commentators. It’s easy to sit in a studio and comment on someone’s bowling, but they don’t see the real picture out there on the ground. I’m sure they should look at their own stats before criticising anyone."

Thakur was the pick of the bowlers as the Super Giants did an outstanding job to pull back the Titans, who stitched a 120-run opening stand. The Maharashtra-born cricketer registered figures of 4-0-34-2 to restrict the visitors to 180/6.

"Credit to us that we’ve defended scores on two occasions when we batted first" - Shardul Thakur on LSG's bowling unit

Shardul Thakur celebrates a wicket. (Credits: Getty)

The veteran believes LSG have done an outstanding job by defending scores twice successfully, especially on batting-friendly surfaces. He added:

"Credit to us that we’ve defended scores on two occasions when we batted first. We put up a good score, the pitch became better for batting, and even with drastic changes, we managed to defend — one game by 10 runs, one by 4 runs in Kolkata. So it was about holding our nerve till the end and believing in ourselves that we could win the game, provided we got an important wicket or bowled a key over."

LSG are currently third in the standings with four wins in six matches.