India’s substitute captain KL Rahul admitted his team had to work hard through Bangladesh to record a comprehensive 188-run win in the first test of the two-match series on Sunday. Indian needed four wickets from Bangladesh on the last day to take a 1–0 lead in the series. Indian completed the match within an hour in the morning session, bowling out the hosts for 324 in 113.2 overs. This was after Bangladesh put up a stubborn resistance during the morning session of the fourth day on Saturday, with Zakir Hasan (100) achieving a patient century, while Najmul Hossain Shanto (67) scored a fifty.
“Hardly fought Test match and we really had to work hard for this win. Really glad we did,” said Rahul, who recorded his first Test win as skipper, during the post-match presentation.
“It (the field) got flat, we weren’t worried. It looked like the batters were batting comfortably. It was hard to score runs in the first three days. The way their (Bangladesh) openers hit, we had to work hard.” Rahul said India wanted to change things after losing the ODI series 1-2 to Bangladesh.
“We’ve been here for a while. The one-day series, it didn’t go the way we wanted. Our intensity was really high. We know no win comes high.” The Indian skipper praised his battle unit, especially Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant for their contributions to the victory.
“We also batted well in the first innings. It was good work from Shreyas and Puji (Pujara), even Pant’s counterattack. Really happy for them (Gill and Pujara), they took the opportunity.
He also praised the bowling unit.
“Very happy with the way we bowled. The pitch didn’t really help the bowlers but they found something. Umesh (Yadav) bowled some great spells and got us back in the game. We’ve had this attack over the years. They let see what quality they have,” Rahul said.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, who hit an offensive 84 in the second innings, said the pitch was a fine batting but they were undone by an under-par showing with the Willow in the first innings.
Bangladesh was bowled out for 150 in their first innings in reply to India’s 404.
“It was a really good wicket to save but we didn’t bat well (in the first innings). After 5-6 months of play it wasn’t ideal but there shouldn’t be any excuses,” said Shakib.
“High praise to India for the way they bowl. They bowled in partnerships and created pressure. We need to play good cricket all five days. We need to play four good innings to get a result, especially against India.” Shakib was effusive in his praise for the young Zakir Hasan.
“He (Zakir) has scored many runs in domestic runs, that’s why we picked him. Hopefully he scores many more centuries for Bangladesh.” Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who won the man-of-the-match award for his career best match tally of 8 for 113 alongside a stubborn 40 in India’s first innings, said it was not easy to take wickets in the second innings as the field had leveled out.
“To be honest, I’m happy with the performance, both with bat and ball. The first innings the field was faster than the second innings. There was some pace in the first innings, but the second innings was very challenging,” said he.
“It was slower. So I tried to work on my rhythm and bowl faster. Probably more revs on the ball makes it challenging for the batters and it’s hard to step down and also drive (why wrist spinners have that extra advantage ).
“I’ve just been working on my rhythm, trying to be more aggressive and it’s helped me a lot. The action is the same, I’m just trying to be aggressive in the rhythm (over working on his bowling),” added Kuldeep.
The second Test of the two-match series kicks off at Mirpur on December 22.
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