Very pleased with our bowling effort – Raina

India’s stand-in captain, Suresh Raina was contented by the way his bowlers bowled in their opening match against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

The home team opted to bat first on a fairly sluggish wicket and posted a challenging total of 273 runs from 50 overs. India, in reply, showed positive and aggressive intent in their chase until heavy showers intervened and the game had to be stopped for couple of hours.

The revised target was 150 in 26 overs which was accomplished by the visitors in 24.5 overs, hence registering a clinical win by 7 wickets.

With the blazing sun adding a lot more to the hot weather at Shere Bangla Stadium, Mohit Sharma suffered from cramps and could not complete his quota of 10 overs. Mohit’s fellow seamer, Umesh Yadav, bowled 9 overs in this game.

Raina, in particular, was pleased with the performances of the debutants, Parvez Rasool and Akshar Patel.

Considering the conditions and with the inexperience of the bowling attack, Raina applauded the efforts of his young bowlers.

“Very happy with the bowlers – especially Rasool and Akshar. And obviously, Mishra. It was very tough for the bowlers in these conditions.Both fast bowlers were cramping up. The toughest conditions we have bowled in, in terms of the heat,” said Raina.

India’s former opening batsman, Aakash Chopra, praised Uthappa’s indefinite hard work and commended his transformation as player.

Uthappa started as a batsman who’d try to bludgeon the ball and now he’s playing as if trying not to hurt the ball…what a transformation!

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 15, 2014

Robin Uthappa, who was making a comeback to the ODI side after nearly a gap of 6 years, justified his selection by slamming an attractive half century off 44 deliveries. His opening partner, Ajinkya Rahane, looked in a fine form and accumulated 64 runs from 70 balls.

Raina termed Ajinkya Rahane as one of the cleanest batsman in this side.

“Pleased with especially Robin and Ajinkya. Robin has been batting well, and Ajinkya is one of the cleanest batsmen I have seen,” the skipper added.

Both teams will face each other on 17^th June at the same venue.