Being part of an Indian white-ball set-up not short of talent and depth, opportunities have been quite rare for pacer Shardul Thakur. However, the competition for slots hasn't dimmed his hunger one bit as he steps on the field whenever required with the desire to help India win games.
Having sat out the first two ODIs against Australia in Sydney, Thakur, again, only got his chance in the third one-dayer on Wednesday (December 2) in Canberra as the team management decided to rest first-choice quicks Mohammad Shami and Navdeep Saini with the series already gone.
Undeterred, the pacer delivered a very fine spell of 3/51 to help the visitors successfully defend their score of 302/5 and pull off a consolation win.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Thakur said he hasn't let the frustration of irregular selection get to his head ever, which reflects in performances like the one at the Manuka Oval.
"The selection is not in my hands. It is important is that I try to win games for India whenever I play," he said as quoted by PTI. "I play to win. I don’t think that I am getting just one match or I am playing as a replacement of an injured player. Once you are on ground, all players just focus on wining matches."
The 29-year-old Thakur has only played 12 ODIs and 15 T20Is for India since his debut back in 2017.
After one good outing in Canberra, the pacer will have to once again warm the benches as he is not part of the T20I squad for the series beginning Friday (December 4). But Thakur said he isn't losing his sleep over it.
"The team was selected long back. I was not part of the T20 squad, so I was not thinking about it," he said.
The scoreline in ODIs may read 2-1, but Thakur said the Indian team are considering the entire white-ball leg as one six-match series.
"We are looking (at) it as a six-match series instead of three match ODIs. From now on, we can exploit the conditions as boys are getting used to it (conditions)," he said.
On the day, Thakur got the mighty Steve Smith (7) out while he tried to nudge one of his legs. Sharing his gameplan for Smith and the rest of the Aussie batsmen, he said, "Everyone wants to win. The plan was to bowl on stumps. He is their top player, getting him early was huge."
"Important was to bowl our lengths consistently. The Australian have played a lot of cut and pull shots. I just tried to keep them off those shots and made them play straighter and it worked for me."
"The grounds (in Australia) are big. So you have to be smart enough to execute your plan, where you want batsman to play their shots. The wickets were good to bat so more important for bowlers to use variations smartly, execute the plan ball-by-ball. That was the key," Thakur added.
Thakur admitted, though, that in-form opener David Warner's absence did play a major role in the day's outcome.
"To be honest, David Warner was not playing. It was a good opportunity for us to put them on the back foot and try to win this game, take advantage of the situation," he said.
"There are three upcoming T20 games and hopefully the Indian team can carry this momentum into the Twenty20 series."
Thakur praised debutant T Natarajan, who picked up an early wicket of Marnus Labuschagne (7) and gave India momentum at the start of their defence. The left-arm pacer returned with figures of 2/70, getting Ashton Agar (28) as well towards the end.
"He has done well in IPL, executed a lot of yorkers. He came back well that shows he has got a big character. We need players like him. In white ball (format) you are going to get hit."
"What is important is you come back, develop the confidence and take it from there," Thakur said.
