Shardul Thakur put on an impeccable performance with the ball during India A's seven-wicket win over New Zealand A on September 23 (Thursday). The right-arm medium pacer finished the game with figures of 4/32 in 8.2 overs and his brilliant spell of bowling was instrumental behind India A restricting bundling out the visitors for just 167 runs in 40.2.
Thakur, who has fallen behind in the pecking order in terms of being selected on the national side, shed light on his conversation with Team India captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid.
"In the first conversation between them and me, they conveyed to me that I am a three-format player for them," Shardul was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"They are looking at me in all three formats. After that [conversation], we really did not sit and have a chat because we have been playing games regularly. If you see, the schedule is packed. The Indian team is playing series after series with a gap of just four-five days. No one has really had time to sit and chat with each other. All the chat that we have had otherwise was game-based, or planning in terms of strategy for the next game - that kind of stuff," he continued.
Since bursting into the senior national side after toiling hard in the domestic circuit, Shardul has played eight Tests, 24 ODIs and 25 T20Is. The right-arm pacer exuded confidence in his current form and is now waiting for the national call-up.
"I am bowling well, getting wickets. Even in the last two white-ball series (against Zimbabwe and the West Indies) that I've played, I have taken wickets. So definitely looking for a national call again whenever they want my services," he said.
Shardul also spoke about the importance of adapting to different formats of the game.
"The moment T20 cricket was introduced, players had the challenge to switch between formats. As a professional, it's our responsibility to switch immediately. In recent years, the switch has been happening a lot. It's not the case where you play red ball first, you move on to ODIs and then T20Is, it all depends on what kind of schedule we have. I think as a player we just have to be ready and whenever we get time, apart from playing a match, like in nets or maybe a couple of days between the series, we just have to practice different skills that you would use in different formats," he concluded.
