KANPUR: After bowling out Bangladesh in the first innings on Monday, skipper Rohit Sharma told teammates that they would bat aggressively in their first essay to force a result in the match. By then, more than two days of play had already been lost and a draw was looming large. The captain's pep talk, however, changed it all for India as they not only won the second Test at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur but also set quite a few batting records in the longest format of the game.
"Once we bowled them out for the first innings, Rohit was very clear that we needed to at least bowl 80 overs at them. Because I think we bowled them out for 70 overs or something in the first one," R Ashwin told journalists at the post-match press conference on Tuesday.
Elaborating further, Ashwin said, "So having that surplus 10 overs was always going to help because they can defend and the pitch is pretty good. The moment he said that on the field, I thought maybe we will battle one hour after the start of play today. But when we gathered inside for a small talk, he did mention that we are going to go hammer and tongs. And then if in that bargain we are going to get bowled out for less than 200, it's still okay. Because we have made a game of it."
He was also all praise for the India skipper saying he left others with no choice other than playing fearless cricket. "Saying that is one and obviously when he said that, we know how Yashasvi (Jaiswal) is going to play. But Rohit walked out and just tonked the first ball for a six. So when you walk the talk, I think obviously the dressing room doesn't have any other choice but to follow that same pattern. And we have 50 runs out of three overs there was no looking back up."
The match might be remembered for the approach adopted by the Indian batters but their bowlers played their role to perfection to make that win possible. Ashwin agreed to it. "Look, I think when you play first class cricket, very often than not, the fine-tuning of a bowler or any cricketer is about harping on the basics. And each one of those bowlers that bowl along with me, alongside me, have the ability to hold on to a game, bowl with discipline and yet produce wicket-taking goals. When we talk about things like this, we have to be able to understand the finer nuances of the game to be able to get what I am saying.
He added, "It is not just their ability alone, it is also the belief of the entire team. When Rohit says that you make 400, try and make a game out of it, it tells you that the captain believes the bowlers will get the job done. I believe in my bowlers. These bowlers have done it day in and day out. And they have the ability to pick 20 wickets. So, having that as one, you will encounter situations where batters do dominate against our bowling attack as well. It is only given in this game. But the bowling attack is quite special. And I really do hope that this legacy of bowling is taken forward."
It was the young Yashasvi Jaiswal who gave India a flying start with the skipper. Ashwin held Yashasvi as a special talent. "Look, I think Yashasvi is a special talent, plays freely. He started his international career so extraordinarily. Still, I would say both of them (he along with Shubman Gill) are in the formative years of playing Test cricket. But both of them are special, we all know that. It's just that they need to be able to encounter more and more newer experiences and be able to identify for themselves about what they need to work on. Whether you ask me the raw material is there, I think it's evident for everyone that both of them are high-quality players."
