Rohit Sharma says India were willing to be bowled out for a low score in the first innings to avoid defeat in their 2-0 series sweep over Bangladesh. (More Cricket News)
The second Test was severely hampered by rain, with days two and three lost due to the weather, but the hosts eventually prevailed in a seven-wicket victory.
However, in their return to action on day four, India first dismissed Bangladesh for 233 before setting a record first-innings run rate for any men’s Test, declaring on 285-9, to put themselves in the driving seat on the final day.
In a dominant performance, they bowled the tourists out for 146, before reaching their target of 95 in just over an hour, claiming their 18th consecutive home Test series win.
And they certainly started fast on Monday. They scored at a rate of 8.2 runs per over through their 34.4 overs before declaring, the fastest-ever rate recorded by any team in the first innings of a men's Test.
In the first innings, Rohit got off to a flying start, hitting 23 off 11 balls, including successive sixes off the first two, but Yashasvi Jaiswal was the star, scoring half-centuries in both innings, and the captain said they decided the reward would be worth the risk.
"We had to think a lot [about] how the game can keep moving forward once we lost two-and-a-half days," Rohit said.
"When we came on day four, we thought, okay, let's try and get them out as quickly as possible and then see with the bat what we can do.
"Once they had got 230-odd, we said it was not about the runs we got, but it was about the overs we wanted to bowl at them. It meant we had to try and up the run-rate, and score as many as possible because the pitch did not have much for the bowlers.
"To make a game out of that pitch was a super effort from the bowlers, and then for the batters to buy into that thought of going and getting the runs as quickly as possible," Rohit said.
"It was a risk we were willing to take because when you're trying to bat like that, it is very easy that you can get bundled out for a low score as well.
"But we were ready with that factor as well, that even if we get all out for 100-150, we wanted to give ourselves a chance to be in the game and try and get a result."
