India captain KL Rahul said on Sunday he still believes in his batting despite chasing a modest 145 runs in the fourth day of their second match against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. The ball unit will do the job for the team. Resuming the game with 45 runs, India resumed with 45 runs ahead of Ravi Chandran Ashwin (42 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (29 not out) in the first over. An unbeaten 71 from eight wickets led India home with three wickets and won the two-match series 2-0.
“You just have to trust the man in the middle. There’s always faith but also nerves, we’re human. But we trust the batsmen,” Rahul said at the post-match trophy presentation.
“Today, Ashwin and Shreyas did it with ease and style. They did a great job and gave India a win. We never thought it would be a piece of cake, thought we needed to grind and work hard for the run.. …. “It’s tougher with the new ball. We lost more wickets than we would have liked. We have made mistakes, but we will learn and hope to perform better in the future when similar situations arise. Satisfied with the depth of our bowling over the last 6-7 years,” he added.
Rahul, who steered India into the series in the absence of Rohit Sharma through injury, was full of praise for his team’s bowling squad.
“The win in the series says a lot about how good we are in terms of tempo offense. Ashwin and Axar (Patel) did a good job too. Umesh (Yadav) got his hands up and Jaydev (Unadkat) came in after a long time , but played very well and probably deserved more wickets than him. But the pressure helped Ashwin and Axar capitalize,” he said.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan thought one more wicket could have changed the outcome of the game. However, he gave Iyer and Ashwin full credit for their tenacious effort with the bat.
“Everyone contributes and we’re playing well on this ground. Shreyas and Ashwin are playing well under pressure. We need a wicket. We can think of a lot of ifs and buts, but the way we fight Satisfied,” he said.
“Unfortunately I didn’t play well in the first Test, but happy to play well here. The mentality of the team makes me happy. Hopefully next year we can achieve better results.” Man of the Match Ashwin, who took six wickets and struck 42 in India’s second innings, said he trusted his defense when he came out to bat on Sunday.
“I think Bangladesh played really well. You have to win games the hard way. In this situation, sometimes you feel like you need to play your way. They played well. But we need to trust our defense. I want to come in and support Shreyas. Although they are a bit slow, the pitching is good.” Cheteshwar Pujara was declared the best player of the series after scoring 222 runs in two matches.
“It’s been a tough series, it’s been a very competitive series. I feel like I’ve found my rhythm. I’ve put in a lot of effort, I’ve played a lot of top-notch games and worked hard on my game,” Pujara said .
“(In first class) if you look at the gap between the Test series, playing first class helps to keep the connection. Every game is important for the WTC and you have to be at the top of the game,” he said.
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