'Wasn't About the Runs We Get But the Overs We Wanted to Bowl': Rohit Sharma's Reflection on Kanpur Strategy in Bangladesh Whitewash

The Indian cricket team picked up a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh with their dominant showing at the Green Park in Kanpur on Tuesday.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was elated with the team’s performance to register a whitewash of the tourists in the longest format of the game in new head coach Gautam Gambhir’s first outing in Test whites at the helm of the side.

Following the triumph Rohit elaborated on the transfer of the stewardship of the side

“In life, we all keep moving on and at some stage, you work with different personnel,” the Indian captain said.

“When Rahul [Dravid] bhai said he was done, it was a fantastic time we had together. Then life moves on and as a team we had to move on,” he reflected.

“With Gautam Gambhir, I’ve played with him and I know what sort of mindset he has,” the opener continued.

“Early days still but very fruitful,” Rohit added.

India picked up a brilliant win in the second and final Test by beating the clock after over two days of play was washed out due to inclement weather conditions.

“To be honest we had to think a lot to keep the game moving forward. When we came on day four, we wanted to get them [Bangladesh] out as early as possible and see what we can do with the bat,” the 37-year-old added.

Rohit revealed that the host’s strategy revolved around the number of overs the bowling unit could torment the visiting side for over runs on the board on the occasion.

“It was not about the runs we get but the overs we wanted to bowl at them,” Rohit divulged.

He also lauded the efforts of the bowlers and the batting contingent in obtaining the favourable result.

“The pitch didn’t have much for bowlers but to get a game out of that pitch was a great effort from the bowlers,” he said.

“The batters were willing to take the risk and we were ready to give ourselves a chance at a result,” the batter continued.

The bowlers did exceptionally well to bundle Bangladesh out for 233 runs in the first innings and 146 in the second innings with Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja leading the line with a commendable performance from Akash Deep as well.

“Look, Akash has been good and he’s played a lot of domestic cricket. There’s enough overs in the legs and the guy can do the job the team is expecting him to do,” Rohit continued.

“He can bowl long spells and we want to create a bunch of bowlers who are ready to play Test cricket at any given point. If someone is injured, you should be able to replace them,” he concluded.