Jamaica, June 23: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a happy man after his side beat West Indies by 63 runs on their own turf in the first Test of the three-match series. In a post-match presentation, Dhoni appreciated the efforts of the lower-order batsmen and debutant Praveen Kumar’s skills.

Excerpts from the media interaction:

On the performance of the team

When you see our team, [the] lower-order contribution has been there whenever needed. We do believe that our lower-order can contribute a bit with the bat. At the same time, the part-timers, if given an opportunity, can take wickets. When it comes to the batting department, all 11 players are batsmen who are playing and all 11 can bowl. We did well. We were down to 80 or 90 for six [wickets], [there was] difficulty to put runs on the board [but] Bhajji [Harbhajan Singh ] batted really well along with Suresh Raina and the rest of the batters contributed. We were fortunate to get 246-odd runs on the board in the first innings.

On Test debutant Praveen Kumar

He is a very skilful bowler and if there is anything [in the pitch] for him, he [will] definitely make full use of it. That’s what we saw in this wicket. He is not a bowler who is real quick when it comes to pace but he is very skilful, can swing the ball either way and [is] very consistent with his line and length. So I think that was the main reason why he got six wickets in this game. Hopefully, [if] he continues to do the same, he will get many more wickets.

On the spinners

The spinners bowled decently. We can improve the line of attack maybe, because the bounce was there, variation was there. It’s just that if you can attack [a] better line, [then] it can be slightly better. Not to forget [that] it was a bit difficult to bowl over here with the breeze throughout the Test match, so I think they adapted really well. As the game progressed, they started doing better and better.

On whether they feel better adapted to the conditions after the Test match

It is always good to have practice sessions [behind] you and preparations. So it is fortunate that most of the guys who were part of the ODI squad […] had a fair amount of exposure to all the different tracks that were provided to them in the ODI series. I think they are quite ready for it. This was a first game for three of the players which meant they were a bit tentative. As they play more and more games, they [will] get more and more experience and they will realise [that] Test cricket is slightly different from the ODI format and they will start reading the wicket much better.

On Munaf Patel

He is doing well and I hope that he will be available for selection in the next game.