Thakur played the T20 format for India at a time when Hardik Pandya was doing his long and intensive rehabilitation program but his poor economy rate of 9.15 basically took him off the national team’s radar.
“Of course, it’s a big setback. Every player dreams of playing in the World Cup, not only to play but also to win,” Thakur said on the eve of the second ODI against South Africa.
“It’s okay that I haven’t been picked this time. But there’s still a lot of cricket left and there’s also the ODI World Cup next year. My focus will be to do well in whatever match I play and contribute to the win,” TH Mumbai K Man, who is just two short of completing 100 international wickets across all formats, said.
India have suffered another major setback to their T20 World Cup campaign when the injured Deepak Chahar, who was in reserve, was ruled out of the ongoing series with the possibility of going to Australia.
“Injuries are part of the game, someone is going to get injured at some point or the other. We shouldn’t take it honestly. There’s more cricket yet to come,” he said.
Asked if he likes his chances, the 30-year-old said: “If there is an injury then anyone can come. As of now, it is your responsibility to play whenever and wherever you are asked to play.” “Be prepared. I’ll be mentally prepared if I’m given a call-up. It’s all in my hands.”
Want to make a difference with the bottom bat
Thakur further said that he is honing his batting skills to make a difference in the lower order, something which was displayed in the first ODI in a 93-run stand with Sanju Samson in 66 balls.
Chasing a tight target of 250 in 40 overs, India were 51/4 but Sanju Samson (86 not out) and Thakur (33) revived their hopes and missed out on just nine runs.
“If you look at the teams that have performed very well at the international level, they have a very deep batting line-up. Like Australia for example, they have Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc coming in at 8 or 9. Even That too for England.
“I have been focusing on my batting for a long time now. Obviously batting at No.7 or batting at No.9, if they can contribute it’s always good. That gives you relief. meets.”
“We can also deepen our batting lineup and make a difference – a difference of 15-20 runs which can be crucial in winning matches, especially in white-ball cricket,” he added.
Inappropriate to criticize only Indian bowlers
Team India’s bowling may have faced criticism but Thakur said it was unfair as the rival bowlers were also loosing runs.
“It’s not fair to just criticize Indians, even their bowlers are taken to the clean. We won the T20I series, but they were also slammed.
“I think before questioning the consistency we should see how the wicket was, the conditions. Sometimes more than 350 runs are scored in an ODI then in that situation every bowler gets hit.” There have not been any one-sided matches, batting or bowling friendly pitches, mostly competitive. We have won most of the matches and have shown consistency.”