NZ pacer Boult lauds Rohit

Kolkata, Oct 2 (IANS) Lauding Indian willower Rohit Sharma for his performance on day three of the Second cricket Test here, New Zealand pacer Trent Boult on Sunday said the middle-order batsman applied himself very well.

"He applied himself very well and made some good decisions. He was tested there throughout the innings. A lot of credit to him on a wicket that is going up and down and a little bit of reverse swing there at the end. He batted very well," he said.

Boult said he enjoyed his contest during the day with Indian opener and Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Shikhar Dhawan during the day.

Dhawan (17) was hit on his left thumb by a rising ball from Boult and now looks doubtful for the third Test of the series.

Dhawan became Boult's first victim, when he offered a defensive bat to a delivery that cut in, and the leather struck his pad in front of the middle stump.

"Yeah, I enjoyed it and it was very nice to get him out in the end. We've been mates now for a couple of years and he is a class player. Not too much of a contest there... I was just trying to put the ball in a good area and set-up the team," he said.

He also praised Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- who got five wickets in the New Zealand first innings -- and said the Uttar Pradesh pacer has played a big part in the game.

Boult praised Jeetan Patel who scored a very useful 47 in the Kiwi first innings and said the rest of the batsmen should take a leaf out of his book and try to apply themselves in the remaining two days of the match.

He also expressed satisfaction with his team's bowling performances saying: "The guys did extremely well to put the ball in the areas we did and apply that pressure."

Boult said at the team huddle it was decided that the Indian batsmen should be made to earn every run. "We wanted to put pressure on them and make them earn every run. I think we did very well."

"We knew if we put the ball in the areas we did we were going to be very challenging. Matt (Henry) has come back into the Test arena and really stepped up... he has been superb and was backed up by the rest of the bowlers."

--IANS

ssp/pur/dg