“Unfortunate that we lost this game but if you see overall, we’ve done quite well,” said Shardul Thakur after England beat India by 8 wickets in the ODI series decider at Leeds on Tuesday, 17 July.
Keeping in mind the World Cup next year, batsmen have learnt from this T20 and ODI series on how to bat on English conditions, and bowlers on how to bowl. It’s very important that going forward, the team will try to execute their plans for the World Cup in the coming games.Shardul Thakur
India were tottering at 221/7 after 45.5 overs when Thakur replaced MS Dhoni at the crease, and scored a 13-ball 22 including two sixes, which brought the visitors to a defendable total. Thakur, 26, was India's only bowler to take a wicket in the match.
I was a bit nervous playing this game because it was the series decider. When you’re put under pressure, it’s a players’ responsibility to put forward their A game. I gave my best.Shardul Thakur
“Sometimes results go your way, and sometimes they don’t. I played this game as a challenge,” he added.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid's triple strikes in the middle overs helped England restrict India for a below par 256/8, despite captain Virat Kohli playing a 71-run knock.
Then Joe Root (100*) and Eoin Morgan (88*) shared an 186-run partnership for the third wicket as the hosts cantered to a big win, with 33 balls to spare.
Virat and Shikhar were going really strong. Maybe if they had batted till the 40th over, we could have put up a different total; maybe India would have managed to get 300 on board. But I think the wickets we lost in the middle overs made the difference.Shardul Thakur
Post the match, former Indian skipper MS Dhoni was seen taking the match ball from the umpires, which created quite the buzz on social media about whether the wicketkeeper-batsman was considering retirement. But Thakur said he didn’t see it happen. “I don’t know what it was,” Thakur said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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