CHENNAI, India (Reuters) – India captain Rohit Sharma was pleased with the strong start to his team’s long test season after their 280-run romp in the series opener against Bangladesh on Sunday.
India, leading the World Test Championship standings, played their first test match in more than six months, but there was no sign of rust as they thumped Bangladesh in a little over three days.
Their two-test series will be followed by three home tests against New Zealand and five in Australia this year.
“I thought was a great result, looking at what lies ahead for us,” Rohit said at the presentation ceremony.
“Yes, we’ve been playing after a long time but you’re never out of cricket… It was just about getting together as a group, which we did.
“We came here a week before, we had a good lead up to the test match and then we got the result that we wanted.”
Put into bat, India looked in a spot at 34-3 but Ravichandran Ashwin combined with Ravindra Jadeja in an epic 199-run seventh wicket stand to power them to a commanding 376.
Indian bowlers then took over as they bundled out Bangladesh for 149 and 234 to fashion their comprehensive victory on a red-soil pitch at Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Seamer Jasprit Bumrah led Bangladesh’s rout in their first innings, while the spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja ran amok on Sunday.
“In the last few years, wherever we have travelled, wherever we played, we managed to have that in our armoury – whether it is seam bowling options or spin bowling options,” Rohit said.
“The red-soil pitch always has something to offer. Throughout the game, you need a little bit of patience because you don’t see much happening straight away.
“But this was a pitch where we had to show a lot of patience whether we bat, whether we bowl.”
Najmul Hossain Shanto provided the lone resistance in their chase with a gritty 82, and the Bangladesh captain said their batters needed to contribute more.
“I think everyone contributed, and the way we bowled with the new ball, it was very impressive,” Shanto said of his seam attack.
“The bowlers did a great job. I hope the batters will do something special in the next test match.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by William Mallard)
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