Nottingham: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was happy with the way his team performed under pressure against England in the first Test that ended in a draw at the Trent Bridge here Sunday.
"We needed a partnership this morning and we got it. It was a good Test match for us, we managed to put pressure on them and then we held up well when we were under pressure," he said.
The India captain doesn't regret playing a second spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin and was happy with the performance of seam bowling all-rounder Stuart Binny, who went wicketless but struck a priceless 78 on debut to save the day for the visitors.
"We haven't had a seaming all-rounder but Stuart Binny can be someone who can really contribute for us in the future. I don't regret not playing Ashwin because there was no help for the spinner. We had good combinations and I was happy with the bowling attack," he said.
Asked about the record last-wicket stand of 198 runs between Joe Root and James Anderson, Dhoni said : "I don't think I could have changed much when Root and Anderson were going, we tried a few things but the ball got soft and the bowlers got tired and I don't think there was much else we could have done.
"A lot of youngsters have played really well. We wanted to see what kind of fight they are putting in and we're pleased."
England captain Alastair Cook made it clear he was not happy having a docile pitch for the match that offered nothing to his pacers.
"In this game we had a poor session, losing six wickets on a really good pitch. Thankfully we got out of it. Joe Root has come back really well, leading the time and marshalling those partnerships. It's a tough job being a groundsman and he's admitted he's got it wrong but you have to adapt and we adapted well," he said.
