India vs England | Shardul Thakur insists wickets in middle over made all the difference

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk,SportsCafe Editor

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Shardul Thakur pointed out that losing Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan's wickets, who were going really strong in middle overs, made all the difference. He further stated that the England batsmen played Kuldeep Yadav really well and insisted that Test series would be a fresh start to their campaign.

An all-round England team registered a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over India in the third and deciding ODI at Headingley on Tuesday. The hosts clinched the three-match ODI series 2-1 for their first series win over India in seven years. It also ended India's run of nine consecutive one-day series victories.

India's middle order has been their biggest worry in the recent past as they have been almost always dependent on the top three batsmen. Dinesh Karthik was given a chance in place to KL Rahul to strengthen the middle order on Tuesday but the Tamil Nadu batsman failed to make a mark as he got out for 21 runs off 22 balls. Shardul Thakur also pointed out that losing the wickets of Virat Kohli(71 off 72 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan(44 off 49 balls), who were playing good in the middle overs, was a major contributing factor to India’s loss.  

“I think Shikhar and Virat were going really strong, if they would have continued to bat till 40th over it would have been different total. India would have put up 300 on the board. But I think the wickets we lost in the middle overs made the difference,” said Shardul Thakur in the post-match press conference. 

Chasing a modest 257-run target to clinch the series, Joe Root (100 not out) and skipper Eoin Morgan (88 not out) took England home in 44.3 overs. The duo added an unbeaten 186-run partnership for the third wicket. And Thakur stated that it was unfortunate that India lost the series but insisted that it would be a good learning curve for all the players. 

“It’s unfortunate we lost the series but if you see overall we have done quite well. Keeping the world  cup in mind which is next year, the batsmen would have learned from t20 and ODI this series, how to bat in English conditions and bowlers how to bowl here in English conditions in limited overs. I think it’s very important that going forward, whichever games we play this year our team would want to execute what we want to do coming here in the world cup,” he said.

Thakur was the only wicket-taker for Indian bowling lineup with the other one being run out, as he ended up with the figures of 1/51 runs. Thakur also made a valuable 22 not out off 13 balls and together with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21) added 35 before his fellow paceman got out off Willey's final ball of the innings. He stated that he tried to give his best and took this game as a challenge to perform well.  

“It’s not easy when you are playing one off games. I remember I played my last match in South Africa where he had won that series. It wasn’t a necessary win for us. But playing in this game I was nervous because it was a series decider. When you are put under pressure I think its player’s responsibility to put forward you’re A game. I think I gave my best sometimes results are your way and sometimes they are not but I played this game as a challenge,” he stated. 

Kuldeep Yadav has been brilliant on the tour of England and the English batsmen have mostly struggled to come up with a strategy to play him. However, Thakur remarked that English batsmen played Kuldeep Yadav really well in this game. In the contrast to the 9 wickets that he got in the first 2 ODI games, Yadav went wicketless for 55 runs in his quota of 10 overs. 

“They played really well against Kuldeep in this game. The pitch had changed and got slower because of which they were playing him easily on the back foot. I think they played well,” he added. 

The spoils of the war are shared now, after India won the Twenty20 International series 2-1. And next in the long India tour of England is a five-match Test series, which is scheduled to start on August 1. Thakur stated that the red ball series would be a fresh start to their campaign. 

"I think going into the test series its completely different ball game. We have been playing white ball cricket here now red ball cricket is going to start so your strategy changes mindset changes. It’s a fresh start I would say," he said.  

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