New Delhi: With an eye on tougher future assignments, India will build their teams on the basis on the basis of their bowling strength, skipper Rohit Sharma said after India beat Bangladesh in the first Test match in Chennai on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma’s boys produced a dominant show as they beat Bangladesh by 280 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. India won in the opening session of the fourth day at the Chepauk stadium, winning with five sessions to spare.
Local boy Ravichandran Ashwin produced a six-wicket haul and a century to be the man of the match as Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill struck fluent centuries.
“We want to build our team around strong bowling options, we have to be ready to face whatever the conditions offer,” Rohit said after India’s win.
“No matter what the conditions are, whether we play in India, whether we play outside, we want to build the team around that.
“In the last few years, wherever we have played, we have managed to have that in the armoury, whether it is seam bowling options or spin bowling options.”
India set a target of 515 runs, and bowled out Bangladesh for 234 in the second innings, with Ashwin 6/88 picking up the bulk of the wickets.
“It was a great result looking at what lies ahead for us. We are playing after a long time, but you are never out of cricket. We came here a week before, we had a good lead up to the Test match and we got the result that we wanted,” Rohit said.
Great to have Pant back
Rohit also expressed satisfaction at the way Pant returned to the Test cricket after a horrific injury in December 2022 for which he underwent multiple surgeries.
In his first match in red-ball cricket since returning to action, Pant scored 109 in the second innings to put India in a strong position. It was his sixth century in five-day format and Rohit noted that pant has gone through a lot of hardship after his accident.
“He’s been through some really tough times. The way he has managed himself through those tough times was superb to watch. He came back in the IPL, followed by a very successful World Cup and this is the format he loves the most,” Rohit said.
“For us, it was never about what is he going to do with the bat, we always knew what he had with the bat and with the gloves as well. It was just about giving him the game time.
Rohit Sharma’s boys produced a dominant show as they beat Bangladesh by 280 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
