After losing a low-scoring thriller against Bangladesh by one wicket, India captain Rohit Sharma made no bones about the fact that his batting squad needs to significantly improve its ability to handle spinners on slick surfaces. Mehidy Hasan Miraj and Mustafizur Rahaman, Bangladesh’s 10th wicket pair, engineered an incredible comeback with a 51-run partnership that helped the hosts achieve a target of 187 in 46 overs. However, the majority of the spoils during the Indian innings were shared by left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan (5 wickets) and off-spinner Miraj (1 wicket), as the visitors found it challenging to navigate the slow bowlers on a track with turn and bounce.
“The pitch was a bit challenging, the odd ball was turning. You have to understand how to play. There are no excuses, we are used to such types of conditions,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “We need to look at how to bat against their spinners in these conditions. The genes are there, these guys grew up playing in such conditions. It is all about handling pressure.” While the last wicket pair pulled off a heist after being 136 for 9 in the 40th over, Rohit didn’t run away from the core problem and that is inept batting.
“It wasn’t enough runs. Another 30-40 runs would have made a difference. With KL and Washy, we could have got there. Unfortunately, we lost wickets in the middle, and it is not easy to make a comeback,” the Indian captain said. He did praise his bowlers despite an indifferent last 30 minutes. “It was a very close game. We did very well to come back into the game. We did not bat well. We bowled pretty well and kept them under pressure till the end. They held their nerves at the back end.
“If you look back at how we bowled, of course, the last few overs where we would have liked to get a wicket, we kept taking wickets all through,” the skipper looked at the positives. The next match is also at Mirpur and Rohit is hoping for a better show. “I am sure these guys will learn and we look forward to the next game. Hopefully, we can change things around. We know exactly what we need to do in these conditions,” he said.
