Rohit would ‘love’ to play Test series against Pakistan in neutral venue
Bilateral cricket between India and Pakistan has been put on hold since Misbah-ul-Haq’s team last toured India to play a three-match ODI series way back in 2012-13.
India came up with a clinical performance, first with the ball and then with the bat to beat Bangladesh by six wickets in the Nidahas Twenty20 Tri-Series at Colombo on Thursday. Though Jaydev Unadkat (3/38) came up with a superlative performance, Vijay Shankar, who is playing his first international series, impressed all with his bowling figures of 2 for 32 in four overs.
Talking about his performance after the match, Shankar, who was Man-of-the-Match, said that he had been working very hard and that it felt great to win the award. “I’ve been looking forward to this. I have been working very hard and am really happy to be winning this. I’ve been working hard on my bowling over the last few years and bowling is something that has given me something extra in my game. Playing with this team is a dream and everyone in the dressing room is very supportive,” said the all-rounder.
“The intensity with which I work paid off. It’s just a start for me,” said Shankar, adding that India bowled really good length overall from ball one.
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“We kept picking wickets at regular intervals and were able to restrict Bangladesh at 139. We bowled really well to pick up wickets and that helped,” he said, adding that the team management also played a huge part.
“They gave us all the freedom and just asked us to express well. There is always going to be pressure. If we enjoy the pressure, we are going to do well,” said Shankar.
Meanwhile, India skipper Rohit Sharma termed it to be a great performance from his team. “It was a great performance, something that was expected of us. Till the last ball of the game was bowled, it was clinical. We looked into what went wrong against Sri Lanka and we thought hitting back of a length was a good option. We wanted them to go after the long boundaries. I thought the bowlers executed their plans really well. Came out and did what was asked. We kept it simple. We need to improve out catching. We want to get better as a fielding side every game we play. We are much better than that. Hopefully, we won’t make the same mistakes again.
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