Indian skipper Rohit Sharma came out to face the press after the 113-run loss to New Zealand on Saturday. The loss in the second Test also meant that India had lost their first series at home since 2012. Barring the batting exploits of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja none of the batters stood up to the occasion.
Mitchell Santner with 13 wickets in the game was the best bowler for the visitors. The left-arm spinner had picked 7/53 in the first innings and followed it up with 6 more wickets in the second. Santner also played a key role with the run-out of Pant for a duck. Ajaz Patel with 2 wickets and Glenn Phillips with 1 were the other wicket takers for New Zealand.
Rohit Sharma made a huge statement during the press conference and said, "We can't say it was a failure from batters or bowlers. It was from both. When we win, everyone takes the credit. Similarly for a failure, everyone has to share the blame. We have done a lot of good things. We had a great run for 12 years and 18 series. We need to look at this failure but I don't want to create an environment where everyone starts doubting themselves. I don't want to open a medical kit & do different things."
Here are the biggest takeaways from Rohit Sharma’s press conference
About the pitch in Pune –
Ian Smith had lambasted the Indian team for getting bowled out for 156 on a pitch where there were no demons. Rohit said, “The pitch wasn't bad. We just didn't play well enough. We always knew whatever target would be challenging because pitch started changing."
On India’s batting in the first innings –
“This wasn't a pitch to score 150. We will discuss what we didn't do well in that inning. I don't need to open a medical kit and start doing different things. It's important to understand that this team has done good in the past. When you're playing on pitches like these where the odd ball turns, you as a batter need to try and do different things. It's not easy to sweep and reverse sweep, so it depends on every batter who is in the middle to take that call," he af\dded.
On collective batting failure –
“The last two Tests we have lost but before this we have won 18 home Tests. So I don't want to think too much into it. The batters haven't stepped up in 2 games, 2 innings, I'd rather say. We couldn't replicate our plans. Don't want to do much post-mortem. Same batters have won us the previous series in the past. We just need to think what we can do differently.”
On complete team’s failure –
“We didn't play well enough. That's hurting. We didn't win the series. That's hurting. It's a collective failure from the entire unit, both batting and bowling. When you win, everyone gets the credit.”
On India’s home streak ending –
“Because of the 3 sessions, I don't want to react differently. Look at the number of games we have won in India. Nearly 80% Tests we've won at home. So why look at the negative things? I don't want to create an environment where people start doubting themselves. Overall if I look back, we have done everything in the last 10-15 Test matches in India. We haven't been able to do that in the last two Tests."
About New Zealand’s team –
“New Zealand batters were trying to do different things and it worked really well for them. They put our bowlers under pressure, which worked in their favour.” This was a huge praise from India’s skipper as the Kiwis have batted well in all four innings.
On three spinner strategy –
India’s skipper also revealed why three spin bowlers were played “We played three spinners because we wanted a bit of balance. If there was unvariable bounce, then maybe we might have needed the pacers. But wasn't required”
Coming out in support of Sundar, Ashwin and Jadeja –
“There's too much expectations on Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. That's not fair, the onus should be on the entire team. These two played a major role in our unbeaten series run at home. Sometimes they're allowed to have bad games here and there. Washington Sundar had a great game and we are happy with his performance. He bowled so well. ou're talking about someone who has taken 500+ and 300+ wickets respectively. It can happen that things don't work out for them and that's when people around need to step up and take that extra responsibility."
On current mindset after losing the series–
“This is the first time, our batting has collapsed like that. It's allowed once in 12 years. If it was happening continuously, we wouldn't have this streak. I understand expectations are high when we play at home. Losing two Tests doesn't mean you change your entire system. I'm certainly not going to overreact. We need to speak to certain individuals and let them know where they are.
On his future approach-
“The mentality has to be to win the Test and then explore other options. We won the Kanpur Test because of the same mindset. When we had played 5-6 Tests, all we needed was support from the management and captain, and that's what I'll do. A lot of us have played a lot of cricket on our strengths and not weaknesses. When you want to play more international cricket, you don't work more on weakness but rather build on your strength. It should be a 70:30 ratio”