That was a great effort, guys! Virat Kohli praises Indian bowlers

Members of the Indian team pose with the winners' trophy after their win over Bangladesh at Hyderabad yesterday. Pic/PTI

Hyderabad: The accuracy of spinners R Ashwin (4-73) and Ravindra Jadeja (4-78) combined with pacer Ishant Sharma's (2-40) ability to reverse swing the ball helped India clinch a massive 208-run against Bangladesh in the one-off Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here in Uppal yesterday.

For Bangladesh, Mahmudullah (64) showed tremendous character to resist the Indian attack, scoring his first half-century after 11 innings.

He occupied the crease for three and a half hours during his 149-ball innings which included seven hits to the boundary while his team chased a mammoth 459 for victory. Opener Soumya Sarkar (42) and captain Mushfiqur Rahim (23) tried their best to avoid the inevitable, but failed.

India pacer Ishant Sharma (left) celebrates the fall of a Bangladesh wicket with teammates on Day Five of the one-off Test yesterday. Pic/PTI

Umesh, Ishant shine
India captain Virat Kohli praised pacers Ishant and Umesh. "That we were able to get a result on this kind of track is a credit to our bowlers. The wicket was very good to bat on and it took a bit of patience from us to get wickets. I thought Umesh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant were brilliant in the first innings, but Umesh stood out.

"In the second innings, all three bowled really well but Ishant stood out. I have said that the quality of our spinners allows our fast bowlers to attack because of the way our spinners bowl and contain runs. The pacers can really attack as soon as it starts reverse swinging," Kohli said at the post-match media conference. "Ishant bowled with pace and had to put in a great effort to take wickets at that stage. He managed to dismiss both the set batsmen and that was really good for us," he added.

With this win, India bagged their sixth successive series to remain unbeaten in 19 Tests. When asked how much he has improved in these 19 Tests as a captain, Kohli: "It's the players who make you the captain that you become. To be honest, anyone can set the field. It's just that you have to make sure you take up the responsibility of keeping the energy of the team up. I look to push myself around on the field, so that the other guys know that they also have to push for a wicket," Kohli said.

Bangladesh's Mahmudullah, who scored a valiant 64 yesterday. Pic/PTI

Needed a quicker finish
He felt India failed to wrap up the game quickly. "The only thing I feel we could have done was close the second innings quicker. There were lapses in the field when they were eight down. Had we taken our chances, we probably could have finished the game earlier. "Those are the things we can take away from this game and improve on. Closing the game is very crucial. You don't want to give the opposition any chance to get back," he concluded.