Bowling to Virat was a good experience: Mehedi Hasan

Young Mehedi Hasan playing his first Test in India came here on the back of sensational performances against England where he bagged three six-wicket hauls in two Tests in his debut series. England were the weaker opponent on spin friendly surfaces back home and the Indian players are among the best players against spin. He got the first taste of how tough Test cricket can be in the first innings of the Test.

The wicket at Hyderabad was a batting paradise on the first day, though the ball started to turn on the second day Mehedi couldn’t bowl a single maiden in his 42 overs. Indian batsmen absolutely relished hitting him around as the 19-year-old conceded 165 runs at an economy close to 4. Though he got the two wickets the first inning will definitely be a learning example for him.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli scored yet another double hundred and hardly gave Bangladesh any chance. Mehedi too enjoyed the knock though they were at the receiving end. “Obviously, this is a good experience and I watched his (Kohli) batting on TV. Bowling against such players, you learn how to bowl at this level. I want to play cricket for a long time. Hopefully, I can apply whatever I have learnt from here,” he said.

A key aspect of his bowling was his line, even if the batsmen went after him and runs were coming pretty thick he never opted for the defensive line. He attacked the batsmen outside the off-stump though at times was a bit too short and paid the price, a better control on the length will definitely yield him greater results.

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“Actually, for me this is a good experience because we are playing against India. The best thing was that I bowled the way I wanted to. I bowled a bit short but yes I am happy. I tried bowling good areas but they even played the good deliveries well. I feel we bowled a bit short at times.” Mehedi said.

On the second day the pitch has just started to turn but continues to be a good batting surface. “Wicket is good. There was a bit of turn but the wicket will remain good for batting.”

In the interaction with the journalists when he was asked to differentiate the England series and his experience here he said, “They (India) play spin very well and even more so on the flat surfaces. If there was turn, there was a bit of trouble but they always survived. They are used to playing like this.”

They were poor on the field missing opportunities and half chances but the off-spinner didn’t blame the fielders despite conceding 687 runs in the first innings. “It is a part of game. Even I felt bad when I missed a catch in a practice match. I learnt a lot from it. You feel bad for a while but then you learn to move on.”

He definitely would have been satisfied from his performance if he had managed to kept the runs in check. “There are always big expectations. It would have been better had I given fewer runs and taken more wickets – but I know I can’t always get a lot of wickets.” Mehedi concluded saying.