Shami, Umesh & Ishant have been bowling well as a pack: Ashwin

Shami, Umesh & Ishant have been bowling well as a pack: Ashwin

Indore: It was a dicey toss to win for Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque as while the wicket at the Holkar Cricket Stadium wore a look that would have had the Indian fast bowlers waiting to get the red cherry in their hands, the nature of wickets in the country are such that batting last can be a challenge against spinners. Haque decided to go with the conventional style and that saw the Indian bowlers rule the roost as the visitors were bundled for 150 on the first day of the opening Test.

Speaking at the end of the day's play, R. Ashwin said that the Indian pacers have been bowling really well in recent times and it looks like something is going to give every time they have the ball in hand. In fact, the first session was completely dominated by the trio of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav.

"They have been some great rhythm, sometimes you feel something's happening in every spell they are bowling or at least they make it happen. Shami, Umesh, and Ishant have been bowling well as a pack. Add Bumrah to it and it becomes one of the most lethal pace bowling attacks in the world," he said.

Ashwin too felt that it was indeed a brave decision for Haque to bat first as the Indians were expecting the visitors to bowl first as the surface had life on it.

"Personally, I thought it was a very brave decision, we expected them to bowl first but they batted. However, the way they batted was commendable, few of their batsmen played well. It is never easy to bat on a surface which has life and which is damp and I thought Mominul and some of them batted well," he said.

The off-spinner himself had a few catches dropped off his bowling, but that didn't stop him from picking his 250th wicket on home soil in the series opener. He dismissed Haque to reach the milestone in the post-lunch session. IANS

Top Headlines

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com