India edged Bangladesh by 3 wickets in a thrilling Day 4 final in Dhaka on Saturday to sweep the two Test series 2-0. The visitors had won the first test by 188 runs.
Resuming the day at 45 for four, India lost three quick wickets before Ashwin (42 not out) and Iyer (29 not out) tied an unbeaten 71 for the eighth wicket to guide India to the House.
“You just trust the guys in the middle. There’s always trust but there were nerves; we’re human. But we trusted the hitters,” Rahul said at the after-show presentation ceremony. match.
“Today Ashwin and Shreyas did it with ease and style. Kudos to them for giving India the win. We never thought it would be a walk in the park, we thought we had to work hard for races…
“It was more difficult with the new ball. We lost more wickets than we would have liked. We made mistakes but we will look to learn and hopefully improve our performance if a similar situation shows up in the future. Happy with our bowling depth over the past 6-7 years,” he added.
Rahul, who led India in the series in the absence of injured Rohit Sharma, praised the team’s bowling unity.
“The series wins speak volumes about the quality of our pace attack. Ashwin and Axar (Patel) also did very well. Umesh (Yadav) got his hands up, Jaydev (Unadkat) came on after a long time but played incredibly well and probably deserved more wickets than he got. But the pressure helped Ashwin and Axar capitalize,” he said.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan felt that one more wicket could have changed the outcome of the game. However, he gave credit to Iyer and Ashwin for their hard work with the bat.
“Everyone contributed, we played well in this room. Shreyas and Ashwin beat well under pressure. We needed one more wicket. We can think of a lot of ifs and buts, but we are satisfied the way we fought,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t play well in the first test, but I’m happy to have played well here. The team spirit makes me happy. I hope we get better results next year.”
Man of the Match Ashwin, who took six wickets and scored 42 unscored in India’s second innings, said he was confident in his defense when he came out at bat on Sunday.
“I think Bangladesh played very well. The game had to be won the hard way. In these situations sometimes you feel you have to punch your way. They played well. But we had to trust our defense. I wanted to come in and support Shreyas.The pitches were good if a bit slow.
Cheteshwar Pujara was declared player of the series for scoring 222 points in two games.
“It’s been a tough series, the series was very competitive. I feel like I’ve found my rhythm. A lot of work has been done, I’ve played a lot of top class games and I’ve worked on my game” , Pujara told me. “(On Premier Class) If you look at the gap between the Test series, playing Premier Class helps to keep in touch. Every game is important with the WTC and you have to be on top of your game,” he said. -he declares.
(With PTI entries)
