North Sound (Antigua), Jun 22 (PTI) Indian vice-captain Hardik Pandya felt that batting unit did very well to reach 196 against Bangladesh on a track where 180 seemed to be par-score.

Pandya’s 27-ball-50 and contributions from Virat Kohli (37), Rishabh Pant (36) and Shivam Dube (34) took India to 196 for 5 after being put into bat.

“Wicket looked alright, par would’ve been 180, we got 196. That’s a good score here,” Pandya told broadcasters at the innings break.

He also praised Dube, who has so far struggled, for playing a composed innings under pressure.

“At the point Shivam went (in), couple of wickets were lost. He had to take his time and we did well to recover. His strength is to take down spinners.

“When the time came, when we could go hard, we went (after their bowling) after that,” Pandya said.

The star all-rounder believed that pitch would get slower as the match progresses.

“Definitely it tends to get slower in the end, some balls were sliding down when bowled at the right length, discipline and good bowling should do the job.” Meanwhile, senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, also one of the most astute analysts among active international cricketers, said time has come when fans looked at impactful 20s and 30s as good contributions rather than milestone half-centuries or centuries.

“We are not used to an approach where batsmen throw it away after making 30’s 20’s, but it is about time we embrace an approach like this especially while batting first.

Top Intent from all the Indian batters so far,” Ashwin wrote on X about India reaching nearly 200 with just a single half-century and three contributions upwards of 30.

Source: PTI News