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'He couldn't believe that this would be India's condition': Ex-BCCI selector reacts to Rahul Dravid's viral video
The moment the winning runs were hit, the smiles were back in the Indian dressing room, with coach Rahul Dravid walking out and embracing the star duo. But while Dravid looked pleased after the victory, there was a time when the Indian dressing room wore a concerned look.
India edged Bangladesh in a nervy thriller in Dhaka to win the second Test match in Mirpur by three runs. Chasing 145 to win, India found themselves in deep trouble when they were reduced to 45/5 at stumps, and chances of Bangladesh’s win shot up early morning on Day 4 when Mehidy Hasan completed a five-wicket haul to leave the opposition reeling at 74/7. Needing another 71 to win with just three wickets remaining, the odds were heavily stacked against Bangladesh.
But just when it seemed that Bangladesh would register their maiden Test win against India, Shreyas Iyer and R Ashwin resisted and played defining innings en route to stitching an unbeaten fifty-plus stand to guide India home. Iyer remained unbeaten on 29, while Ashwin remained not out on 42 and helped India clinch the series 2-0. The moment the winning runs were hit, the smiles were back in the Indian dressing room, with coach Rahul Dravid walking out and embracing the star duo. But while Dravid looked pleased after the victory, there was a time when the Indian dressing room wore a concerned look.
Reacting to Dravid's visuals, former BCCI selector Saba Karim called it a sense of relief and highlighted that deep down, India's head coach must be pondering why the team found itself in trouble in the first place. The decision to send Axar Patel ahead of Rishabh Pant and Jaydev Unadkat as the nightwatchman were decisions that not everyone quite agreed with, and Karim pointed out how India's batter struggling on a Day 4 pitch against an attack like Bangladesh should ring certain alarm bells.
"The win was more like a sense of relief in the dressing room. The run chase that unfolded, everyone seemed to have panicked. The way they shuffled players in the batting order. He [Dravid] and the rest of the players there couldn't believe that this would be our condition… against Bangladesh because this wasn't that tough a chase. A 145-run target wasn't much and this was while chasing on the fourth day, not even Day 5," he said on the Sony Sports Network.
Having already lost the ODI series 1-2, the year would have ended on a disappointing note for Team India had this chase been unsuccessful, but fortunately for them, Iyer and Ashwin showed the stomach for a fight and came out victorious. Iyer easily appeared the most comfortable batter against spin, whereas Ashwin unleashed the big strokes, even though this win wasn’t exactly ideal for India, Karim mentioned how Iyer and Ashwin’s ability to bat in the fourth innings of a Test match is something India would have taken plenty of positives from.
"The importance of scoring runs in the 4th innings is something else and if the players are averaging better in the 4th innings, you know which cricketers have the skill and the technique. Iyer and Ashwin showed exactly but one thing which is more important that that is whether you have the temperament. Only then can you complete such tricky run chases," he added.
