“It’s a nice feeling to score a maiden Test hundred, and it was all the more special because it came against the number one Test side in the world,” Rahim said.
The wicketkeeper-batsman scored an aggressive 101 off just 114 balls including 17 fours and a six to delay India’s march to victory. Excerpts from a media interaction:
On losing early wickets: We lost three wickets in the first session and that put a lot of pressure on us.
We wanted to keep wickets for later sessions, but that did not happen for us. Our shot selection was not up to the mark, especially in the first innings. Hope things will improve for us in the second Test.
On the team’s approach on the fifth day: We approached the day with a positive mindset, and we wanted to score the remaining runs to win. So we just wanted to stick to our natural game. We don’t know if a change in the approach could have done any difference. But as I said earlier, we lost too many wickets in the first session itself.
On Indian bowling: They are a very good batting unit, their batsmen are better. Their bowlers are also good but not in the same rank as the Australians or South Africans.
On the positives from the Test: We have acquired some positives despite the defeat. We nearly took 20 Indian wickets. It was good to see our bowlers bundling out the Indian batting line-up for 243. Shakib is our main bowler, and he is among wickets. Now, if our fielding and catching too improves, we can give better competition to India.
On Indians sledging him: There was a bit of sledging going. They called me a school boy and things like that. But I did not say anything back as I wanted to reply with my bat.
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