Rohit: ‘We were ready to get bowled out for a low score if it meant forcing a result’

Rohit Sharma has said that India were willing to risk getting bowled out for a low score in the first innings in a bid to get a result from a pitch that “didn’t have much for the bowlers”. The second and the third days of the Kanpur Test did not see any action because of drizzle and wet outfield respectively.

But thanks to clear weather on the last two days of the Test, India first dismissed Bangladesh for 233 in the first innings – picking up the last seven wickets for just 121 runs – and then declared on 285 for 9 in just 34.4 overs to have another go at the opposition in the dying moments of the day.

“We had to think a lot [about] how the game can keep moving forward once we lost two-and-a-half days,” Rohit said after India wrapped up a seven-wicket win on the fifth day. “When we came on day four, we thought, okay, let’s try and get them out as quickly as possible and then see with the bat what we can do. Once they had got 230-odd, we said it was not about the runs we get but it was about the overs we wanted to bowl at them. It meant we had to try and up the run-rate and score as many as possible because the pitch did not have much for the bowlers.”

While Rohit himself got off to a blazing start, scoring 23 off just 11 balls, including hitting the first two balls he faced for successive sixes, Yashasvi Jaiswal also brought his T20 game to the fore. He scored a 51-ball 72 in the first innings and then a 45-ball 51 in the second, thereby becoming the first Indian to reach fifties in both innings of a Test in less than 50 balls.

“To make a game out of that pitch was a super effort from the bowlers, and then for the batters to buy into that thought of going and getting the runs as quickly as possible,” Rohit said. “It was a risk we were willing to take because when you’re trying to bat like that, it is very easy that you can get bundled out for a low score as well. But we were ready with that factor as well, that even if we get all out for 100-150, we wanted to give ourselves a chance to be in the game and try and get a result.”

R Ashwin, who was adjudged Player of the Series for his all-round show, also concurred. He picked up 11 wickets, the joint-most in the series, and scored 114 runs including a century in the first innings in Chennai.

“When we bowled them out yesterday a little after lunch, Rohit was very keen [to get a result],” Ashwin said. “He said, we at least need 80 overs to bowl at them and the moment he came inside and gave that talk [that] we are going to go after it and even if we get all out under 230, I mean, we set the cat amongst the pigeons.

“It’s not only him saying it but he went out there and hit his first [two balls] for a six. You set the tone that way, and obviously everybody follows on from there.”

Rohit also heaped praise on Akash Deep, who provided crucial breakthroughs in the two-Test series. In the first innings in Chennai, he bowled Zakir Khan and Mominul Haque off successive balls and then in the Kanpur game, returned three wickets including that of second innings half-centurion Shadman Islam.

“He’s been good, [coming on the back of] a lot of domestic cricket,” Rohit said. “When you you come up through the ranks like that, there’s enough overs in the legs. He has played a lot of cricket, so we know that the guy can do the job that the team is expecting him to do. He’s got the quality, he’s got the skills as well and the guy has good body as well. He can bowl long spells and can bowl quick as well.

“We want to create a bunch of bowlers, who are ready to play Test cricket at any given point because these days there’s too much cricket happening, a lot of injuries and stuff like that. So you’ve got to make sure that you prepare yourself and you prepare your bench strength in a way that, if someone’s injured, you should be able to come and replace him.”

Jasprit Bumrah, who finished with 11 wickets in the two-match series, also praised the three-Test old Akash Deep saying he has “got a lot of heart”.

“He comes up to me quite a lot before his spell and asks me what is happening, what do you think I should do,” Bumrah said. “We’ve had a lot of interesting conversations. It is the energy he brings onto the ball, gives it his absolute best in the field and as well as when he is bowling. He’s got a lot of heart, so that’s a great sign for us going forward as well. And whenever he comes into bowl, he gives his absolute best. So, yes, I’m very happy with the way he’s progressing and hopefully he goes from strength to strength.”