India wrapped up the game within an hour in the morning session, with four wickets needed on the final day, knocking out the hosts for 324 to take a 1-0 series lead.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Bangladesh had offered fierce resistance in the morning session of the fourth day on Saturday with Zakir Hassan (100) reaches a patient century, while Najmul Hossain Shanto (67) scoring a fifty.
“Tough test match and we had to work hard for this win. Really happy we did it,” said Rahul, who recorded his first test win as skipper, during the post-match presentation. .
“It (the pitch) flattened out, didn’t worry us. It felt like the hitters were hitting comfortably. Getting runs was tough for the first three days. The way their openers (Bangladesh) hit, we we had to work hard.”
Rahul said India wanted to turn things around after losing the ODI series 1-2 to Bangladesh.
“We’ve been here for a while. The one-day series didn’t go the way we wanted. Our intensity was really high. We know no wins are high.”
The Indian skipper praised his batting unit, especially Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman GillShreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pants for their contributions to the victory.
“We also beat well in the first set. Shreyas and Puji (Pujara) did their job well, even Pant’s counter attack. Really happy for them (Gill and Pujara), they took the opportunity.
Rahul also praised the bowling unit.
“Very happy with the way we played. The pitch wasn’t really helping the bowlers but they found something. Umesh (Yadav) threw some good spells and got us back in the game. We built that offense over the years. They show what quality they have,” Rahul said.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, who shot an offensive 84 in the second inning, said the pitch was a beauty at bat, but they were undone by a below-par show with the willow during the first run.
Bangladesh were knocked out for 150 in their first run in response to India’s 404.
“It was a very good wicket, but we didn’t hit well (in the first innings). Playing after 5-6 months was not ideal but there should be no excuses,” said Shakib .
“A lot of credit to India for the way they played. They played in partnership and created pressure. We have to play good cricket all five days. We have to play four good innings to be able to get a result , especially against India.”
Shakib praised young Zakir Hasan.
“He (Zakir) scored a lot of points in domestic races that’s why we picked him. Hopefully he scores many more centuries for Bangladesh.”
wrist turner Kuldeep Yadavwho won the Man of the Match award for his career-best match numbers of 8 for 113 in addition to a stubborn 40 in India’s opening innings, said it was not easy to picking up wickets in the second innings as the pitch had flattened.
“To be very honest, I’m happy with the performance, both with the bat and the ball. The first innings the pitching was faster than the second ones. There was a bit of a rhythm in the first innings, but the second innings were very difficult,” he said.
“It was slower. So I was trying to work on my rhythm and play faster. Probably more spins on the ball makes it hard for hitters and it’s also hard to pull back and drive (why do spinners on the wrist have that added benefit).
“I just worked on my rhythm, I tried to be more aggressive and that helped a lot. The action is the same, I just try to be aggressive in the rhythm (about working on his bowling alley)” Kuldeep added.
The second Test of the two-game series will start in Mirpur on December 22.
(With PTI inputs)
