ENG vs IND 2018: Playing one-off matches are always tough, says Shardul Thakur

England won the ODI series by 2-1.

Shardul Thakur | Source Getty

Indian seamer, Shardul Thakur who came in as a replacement for Siddarth Kaul in the third ODI match against England has come out and stated that playing one-off games is not easy at the international level. Shardul Thakur's attacking cameo of 22 runs off 13 balls took India to a total of 256 which was easily chased by the home team.

“I played the last game in South Africa when we had won that series, and it wasn’t a necessary win for us. Playing this game, I was obviously a bit nervous because it is the series’ decider. When you are put under pressure, it’s a player’s responsibility to put forward your a-game. Sometimes the results go your way, sometimes they don’t,” Thakur said after the loss yesterday.

“When given opportunity in a one-off game my mindset is always to win the game for team when I step on the field. While playing this game, it was the same. Also when I am put in different teams, whether I am put in India-A or in domestic cricket, it is always the same,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that we lost this game. If you see overall we have done quite well. Keeping the World Cup in mind, which is next year, I think whatever batsmen have learnt from this T20 series and ODIs will be useful.

"How to bat in these conditions and for bowlers how to bowl in these conditions, I think it is very important. And going forward in this year’s cricket, whichever games we play, I think our team would execute what we want to do,” he added

“Shikhar and Virat were going really strong. If they had continued to bat till 40th over, maybe it would have been different and we could have put up 300. The wickets we lost in the middle overs made the difference,” said Thakur.

“England played really well against Kuldeep. If you saw the pitch, it had changed and got slower. They were playing spin easily on the backfoot and taking singles. So they played them very well,” he added.

“They are obviously favourites because these are their home conditions. England know them better how to play cricket here, so other teams have a big challenge to play here. They have played well against Australia recently and now against us, so it will be difficult to beat them. But when we do come back (for the World Cup) we will be all geared up,” Thakur signed off.

As now England have won the ODI series by 2-1, it will be quite interesting if Shardul Thakur gets his name in the Test squad for England. The first Test match will be played on August 1 with Indian Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay and Rahane being on the top of the selector's list.

(Inputs from PTI)

 
 

By Kunal Kataria - 18 Jul, 2018

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