Thakur played the T20 format for India while Hardik Pandya went through his long and intense rehabilitation program, but the low save rate of 9.15 essentially pushed him off the national team’s radar.
“Of course it’s a big setback. Every player dreams of playing the World Cup, not just playing but also winning it,” Thakur said on the eve of the second ODI against South Africa.
“It’s okay, I’m not selected this time. But there’s still a lot of cricket and there’s also the ODI World Cup next year. My target will be to do well in all the matches I play and to do winning contributions,” said the man from Mumbai. , who is only a step away from completing 100 international wickets in all formats, said.
India suffered another blow to their T20 World Cup campaign when injury-prone Deepak Chahar, who was in reserve, was left out of the current series with his chances of going to Australia looking remote.
“Injuries are a huge part of the game, at some point someone is going to get hurt. We shouldn’t take it by heart honestly. There’s a lot more cricket to come,” he said.
Asked if he imagines his chances, the 30-year-old said: “If injuries occur, anyone can come at any time. From now on, your responsibility is to be ready when and where you’re asked to play. I’ll be mentally ready if I get a call-up. It’s all in my hands.
You want to make a difference with the bat lower
Thakur further said he was honing his batting skills to make the difference lower down the order, which was on display in a 66-ball 93 partnership with Sanju Samson in the first ODI.
Chasing a solid 250 in 40 overs, India were 51/4 down but Sanju Samson (86 not out) and Thakur (33) revived their hopes to miss just nine runs.
“If you see teams that have done very well internationally, their batting line-up has been quite deep. Like Australia for example, they have people like Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc coming in at 8 or 9. Even d elsewhere in England.
“I’ve been focusing on my stick for quite a long time now. Obviously hitting at No. 7 or whoever gets to No. 9, if they can contribute, that’s always great. It gives you cushion.
“We can also have our batting line-up deep and make the difference – the 15 to 20 run difference which can be crucial in winning the game, especially in white-ball cricket,” he said.
Unfair to only criticize Indian bowlers
Team India’s bowling may have come in for criticism lately but Thakur said it was unfair as rival bowlers were also losing points.
“It’s not fair to just criticize Indians, even their bowlers are taken to cleaners. We won the T20I series but they were criticized too.
“I think before questioning the consistency we should see how the wicket was, the conditions. Sometimes in an ODI game over 350 runs are scored so in that case every bowler was hit. It It hasn’t been a one-sided game for India whether it’s batting or bowling friendly, most have been competitive. We’ve won most games and shown consistency.” he added.
