Barbados, June 28: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni answered questions about Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund, who made their Test debuts in the first Test against the West Indies, in his usual matter-of-fact way just before the second Test got underway at Kensington.

Dhoni also observed that as a senior bowler, Ishant Sharma would play an important role for India.

Excerpts from the media interaction:

On Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar’s roles

Added responsibility is there [on Ishant Sharma]. If you see Ishant, he has played a lot of Test matches. He has got ideas as to what he needs to do when it comes to different batsmen. He is one of our main bowlers who is looking to put pressure on the opposition. Along with Praveen Kumar, it’s an ideal combination if you are playing the two bowlers because one is swinging the ball and the other is a slightly more back-of-a-length bowler. Zak [Zaheer Khan] and Praveen - they bowl the same length. They complement each-other.

On Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund’s lacklustre Test debuts

What is important is not to get desperate to score runs because when you are desperate, you add a bit more pressure on yourself. Test cricket is a bit different; a lot of talk goes around Test cricket which means when you are just making your debut, [when you’ve] played only one or two games, there is a bit of extra pressure compared to the ODIs or the T20 format. So, it is very important to relax and prepare well and enjoy the game. That’s why we always say, enjoying the game is very important. It’s not about being desperate. At the end of the day, I feel they will be winners [considering] they are getting a fair amount of exposure to international cricket.