Indian captain Rohit Sharma was glad after his team won the fifth Test match against England by an innings and 64 runs at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Saturday. Rohit lauded the collective effort of the whole team for their consistent performances throughout the series.
India was without the services of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (after the first Test), Mohammad Shami, and Rishabh Pant but the young players were able to grab their chances with both hands and delivered at crucial junctions.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “When you win a Test like this, everything has to fall in place. At some stage people are gonna and people are gonna come and we know that. These guys are maybe short of experience, they have played a lot of cricket and I can stand here and see that these guys responded pretty well under pressure. The credit goes to the entire team and it was pleasing to see. When you win a series like this, we talk about scoring runs and 100s but it is important to take 20 wickets to win a Test.”
Meanwhile, Rohit also hailed the bowlers for their impressive performance. Kuldeep Yadav was the standout performer in the fifth Test, taking a total of seven wickets. Yadav bagged 19 wickets in four Test matches at 20.16.
Rohit said of Kuldeep, “The way bowlers took responsibility was pleasing to see. It was over a period that we had a conversation (with Kuldeep), he’s got a lot of potential and when the chips were down in the 1st innings, he bowled really well and after his injury he came back and worked at NCA and he is putting a lot of effort and the most pleasing thing was his batting.”
Rohit also showered praise on Yashasvi Jaiswal, who grew as a player in the series. The left-hander scored a total of 712 runs in five Test matches at an average of 89, including two double centuries, and broke multiple records.
Rohit concluded, “He’s (talking about Jaiswal) got a long way to go, amazing to be in this position. When a guy’s got talent like that who can put pressure on the bowlers from the word go, there will be lots of challenges going forward. He is a tough guy and loves the challenges, clearly superb series for him and likes to score big.”
India must be satisfied with the way they fought back after losing the opening Test at Hyderabad.
Indian players will next be seen in action in the upcoming IPL.
