'We bowled too many short balls'

It was not a good toss to lose for Bangladesh yesterday. They had to toil hard on a wicket that was flat and barely had anything in it for the bowlers.

Yes, there was a bit of movement initially, but as the day progressed, the wicket became slightly slower and it turned out to be easier for the batsmen to negotiate the Bangladeshis.

The only visible movement was when Taskin was given the old ball in the 50th over. He managed to reverse swing the ball for a couple of overs, but then again he had to be taken off soon. One was left wondering if it would have been better had Bangladesh included an extra pacer.

In addition to all of that, the other problem that Bangladesh's pacers might have faced was adjusting to these conditions after returning from New Zealand.

Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Taskin had bowled a number of short-pitched deliveries in New Zealand. The duo, especially Rabbi tried to use a similar strategy in Hyderabad yesterday, but miserably failed. According to Taskin, the bowlers might just be suffering from the New Zealand blues.

“The thing is, after lunch, the wicket slowed down and they picked the deliveries well. The bouncers initially carried well to the keeper, but after the wicket got slow, the half-short balls went for boundaries. We couldn't bowl completely full either as driving the ball was also easy. You had to bowl a good line,” said Taskin during the post-day press conference.

“On such a wicket… we are new players… yes today we bowled too many short balls, maybe that's why there were many runs. That may be because he [Rabbi] bowled many short balls in New Zealand, but the two conditions are different. Hopefully we will be able to recover tomorrow,” he added.

This is Taskin's third Test. He debuted in New Zealand in conditions that were more favourable for bowling. As a result, he found life quite difficult on the first day here.

“Honestly speaking, this was a new experience for me because I am only playing the third Test in my career and this is in India. Every team scores big here in Test cricket and bowling on this flat wicket [for long periods] is a new experience for me. I tried other things. I tried to bowl reverse swing as well. But they are the number one team in the world and they handled it well,” said Taskin.

“This is the kind of wicket where bowlers have to be patient. The batsmen batted almost flawlessly. You can't bowl loose deliveries and you have to be patient.

“I have bowled against [Virat] Kohli in one-dayers before. In Tests I feel that you will suffer if you bowl a bad delivery to him. He left the good deliveries and always hit the bad ones. To survive here we have to bowl a tighter line and length,” he added.

Taskin felt that it would have been a better day had Bangladesh not given 65 runs in the last nine overs and instead restricted India to 300-odd for three.