We just kept it simple, says Rahane

After wrapping up the one-off Test against Afghanistan in just two days, stand-in Indian skipper Ajinkya Rahane was effusive in the praise of his team-mates while he had some encouraging words for the Test debutants. Excerpts.

On if he expected the Test to end in two days: Not really. Frankly, I think credit to Afghanistan. We didn’t want to take them lightly. We wanted to play some good cricket. For Afghanistan, it’s just the beginning I think. With their bowling, they can do a bit of damage to any other team. It’s still learning phase for them. Overall a good performance.

On what should Afghanistan do to evolve as a batting unit: More and more they play any opponent, they will learn from them. They tried their best. After the first innings, they were trying to stay at the wicket, but still a beginning. It’s just about playing those matches -- five-day cricket regularly. Test cricket is lot about attitude and patience. If 2-3 guys can bat longer period of time, they can be a decent Test side.

On Indian bowling attack: What we discussed before going on to the field (was) we will just keep it really simple, try and be attacking in our mindset. Patience is the key as a bowling unit. For me, it was really easy as Ishant (Sharma) had just played county games and was in good rhythm. Umesh (Yadav) had bowled well in the IPL. These guys are experienced, they know what to do, so it was really simple. I am really happy we have such a good attack.

On the gains for India from this Test: I think the takeaways are Shikhar and Vijay’s hundreds. One big positive is the way our bowlers bowled -- they were patient but yet ruthless and thinking about getting wickets. As a batting unit, even if you score 325 runs, if your bowlers are able to take 20 wickets, you have the best chance to win the Test match.