Hyderabad: Mehedi Hasan is only fiveTest matches old and till date had watched Virat Kohli’s batting only on television.
But after bowling 42 overs on a good batting surface and a lot of them to the Indian captain, Mehedi feels that it has been like an education and he can apply the learnings from this match along the way.
"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," the former Bangladesh U-19 skipper said.
He had put England on the mat on tailor-made tracks but bowling on shirtfronts is a new experience for the rookie tweaker.
"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."
The pitch offered some turn but Mehedi feels that it wasn't a lot. "Wicket is good. There was a bit of turn but the wicket will remain good for batting."
Asked about the difference between India and England series, Mehedi 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."
Mehedi didn’t want to blame the poor fielding of the team. "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."
After his 19 wickets in two Tests against England, Mehedi has been considered as the next big thing in Bangladesh cricket and he is aware about the pressure of expectations.
"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."
