We’ve Played Enough To Realise That Someone Will Win Us Game: KL Rahul

Dhaka: India beat Bangladesh with three wickets to spare in the second Test match at Dhaka to win the two-match series 2-0. Ravichandran Ashwin top-scored for the visitors with a crucial 42*, while Shreyas Iyer added a valuable 29*.

After the match, Indian skipper KL Rahul stated that he was confident that someone will step up and win it for India.

“You trust the guys in the middle (during such situations). We’ve played enough cricket to realise that someone will put their hand up to win us the game. But I’m not going to lie, there was a lot of tension in the dressing room. It was a tough wicket to bat on, they put us under pressure in both innings,” said Rahul in the post-match presentation.

“It was a new-ball surface to some extent, once ball got softer, it was easier to score runs. It was a matter of who plays the new ball better. We did lose a few more wickets than ideal (in the chase) but we got the job done. Will take the win. That (bowling attack) has been the case for the last many years now. Wherever we’ve gone overseas in recent years, we have done the job,” he added.

Ravichandran Ashwin won the Player of the Match award for picking up six wickets and scoring an unbeaten 42 in the second innings. Ashwin praised Shreyas Iyer for his gritty knock and added that India trusted their defence.

“Game was on the line. I thought Bangladesh played really well. The game had to be won the hard way. Shreyas batted beautifully. In these situations, sometimes you feel you need to hit your way. They bowled well. But we needed to trust our defence. I wanted to get in and support Shreyas. Pitches were good, they were a touch slow. The hosts put us under a lot of pressure. Good performances as well,” said Ashwin.

Cheteshwar Pujara was adjudged the Player of the Series for scoring 222 runs in two Tests including a hundred and a fifty. The right-hand batter said that the series was a competitive one, and added that every Test match in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle is important.

“It’s been a hard series, series was very competitive. I feel I’ve found my rhythm. A lot of hard work has been put in, I’ve played many first-class games and have worked on my game. (On first-class) If you look at the gap between Test series, playing first-class helps keep in touch. Each game is important with the WTC and you have to be on top of your game. I’ve played many first-class and Test matches. You need to be mentally strong.”