It was a new look India under the leadership of Virat Kohli as they toiled hard to make a result out of a nothing Test match against Bangladesh yesterday. The match at Fatullah saw only 248 overs bowled across the five days as rain washed out the remaining time, but yet Kohli’s attitude was the focus point.
Kohli has repeatedly urged his team to play better cricket and though the Test ended in a draw, there are a lot of positives for the new captain and his troop. On a sluggish and turning wicket, Kohli backed his prime spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh, who made a return to international cricket after almost two and a half years.
a mark for the visitors where Ashwin bagging a five-fore and Harbhajan taking three wickets on his comeback Test.
The draw, however, cost India more as they dropped a place down to fourth in the ICC Test rankings, but the 26-year old is hardly worried about the fact. Although he did say that having a reserve day would have been better.
While he did informed that it would have been great if there were any reserve day on a Test match while the right hander also said that the need of Decision Review System which was missing in the series will be on their discussions later.
“This is the way we want to play our cricket. We only had two days of proper cricket if you collect the whole game together. The one thing that was very pleasing in the bowling innings was the intensity and the intent the bowlers showed throughout to take wickets and be aggressive in any situation of the game,” Kohli said.
“That’s what we wanted to do as a team and we were able to do that, and the credit goes to the bowlers who were willing to do that despite going off the field, coming off again, and the conditions being hot and humid. There were no excuses, there was no cribbing. As a captain that was very pleasing for me to see.”
Kohli also praised the Bangladesh spinners and believes the Tigers have the capability of doing better in the format.
“Honestly, they (Bangladesh) have really, really good spinners. Playing in the subcontinent, they will always be a side that troubles others with their bowling. With their batting as well, they have players who are very talented, who have the technique, who have the game.
“The more they play Test matches, the more their confidence will grow. The way they have come up in one-day cricket, I see no reason why they can’t in Test matches as well. I’m sure they would want to work hard and be a top side in Test matches as well, giving tough competition to all teams they play. I wish them luck to keep improving. It’s always going to be challenging to play against them, no matter what the format,” he added.
