Indian captain Virat Kohli heaped praises on the pacers after the hosts cruised to an innings victory over Bangladesh in the first Test in Indore.
Team India registered a comprehensive victory over Bangladesh in the first Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh in Indore. Pacers shined for India as the hosts secured an innings and 130-run win over the visitors. Mohammed Shami stood apart among the pacers as he took four wickets, while Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav took three wickets among them in the second innings.
Talking at the post-match presentation, Indian captain Virat Kohli was all praise for the pacers. He insisted that the current Indian pace attack is a 'dream combination' for a skipper.
"It's a dream bowling combination for any skipper. Even the slip fielders are ready as they know the ball can come any over. The numbers and the records are there to see," the captain said.
Virat Kohli equalled Allan Border's record as 32 Test wins as captain with the victory over Bangladesh, but the captain stated that stats are not a priority amongst the group.
"Our focus is to take the Indian cricket higher and higher. The motivation and the intent is right and we don't care about the numbers. I know the importance of getting big scores, I took a lot of time so I wanted him to score big. I don't want the guys to make the same mistakes that I made," he said.
Asked about Mayank Agarwal's superlative performance, Kohli said, "The mindset is simple, when you see a young guy coming in to bat in Tests I know how much time it took me to get those big hundreds, so I know the importance of getting big runs.
"It's important as a senior batter to let them know to keep going. I want them to not make the mistakes I made as a youngsters to make them world class cricketers."
The Indian team will play its first ever Day/Night Test in the second and final match against Bangladesh in Kolkata, and Kohli said the players are excited about it.
"The pink-ball Test is going to be exciting, will be a challenge for the batters. With the older ball, it doesn't swing that much so the bowlers will have a challenge. We're just happy to be among the first to play pink-ball cricket for India."
Man of the Match Agarwal said it was a dream come true for him to play for India and produce this kind of performance.
"It's dream come true to play for India, grateful for the start I've got. Hope I can continue. I do practice my six-hitting but not during the Tests, but I do try and hit a few in domestic cricket," said Agarwal who made 243 in India's only innings.
"It's great to have somebody who motivates you. When I got my first 150, Kohli was at the non-striker's end and he said 'nothing short of 200 for you next'."
About the Day/Night Test in Kolkata, he said, "We've had three pink-ball sessions under lights, Rahul Dravid arranged those in Bangalore. Looking forward to the game now. It's going to be a landmark game for us."
Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque said the toss impacted the outcome of the match.
"It has been difficult. We won (the toss) and decided to bat, it was a difficult decision. But I have a lot of positives, especially Abu Jayed who picked four wickets. Mushfiqur was superb with the bat in both innings, Liton did well too," he said.
"The top order batsmen had a challenge against a very good bowling line-up, so we need to try and play out 15-20 overs. We have no experience of Day/Night Test cricket, we'll just try and enjoy that game."
