Karnataka batsman Robin Uthappa laments the chance he missed during India's recent tour of Zimbabwe.
India had sent a second-string side to Zimbabwe, resting most of the big guns. It was a godsent opportunity for players such as Uthappa, who was making a comeback to the squad after quite sometime.
But the 29-year-old cricketer feels he failed to make the most of the opportunity.
Uthappa, who is not part of the Indian squad that will play a three-Test series in Sri Lanka starting from 12 August, says he wants to play for India again and will be working hard towards it.
"T20 went pretty well, but unfortunately I couldn't capitalise in ODIs. But I am working hard and I will keep doing my best and hopefully I will play for India again," Uthappa told reporters on Wednesday.
Uthappa scored 34 runs in three matches in the ODI series (0, 3 & 31), but played well in the two-match T20 series against Zimbabwe (39 & 42).
In the ODIs, he had to bat at No.5 position, which was completely new for him, whereas in the shortest format of the game, the stylish batsman is used to open the innings like he does for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
"Batting at that position (Number Five) was something new to me. Probably I was too keen to do well, and made some wrong judgements at that point of time," added Uthappa.
The ICC World T20 2016 is on the horizon and Uthappa is gearing up for it so that he gets a call for the big assignment.
Uthappa, who also keeps wickets occasionally, has done wonders for the Knight Riders in the IPL in the last two years and would want to repeat the same for his country. Uthappa has been working hard for it and is hopeful that he will make it to the squad for the T20 World Cup, which will be held in India next year.
"Preparations are going as usual. It is good to have lot of T20 games since the World Cup is coming up. So you can never play few good games. It is always good to play these games," said Uthappa.
