‘I wasn’t at my best with the bat and as captain’ – Rohit Sharma takes blame for India’s historic series whitewash loss at home

For the first time ever Indian cricket team were whitewashed in a home Test match. Rohit Sharma and his side lost the final game in Mumbai by 25 runs. The end came just an hour before the tea session with Washington Sundar being the last man out. Ajaz Patel who had picked 5/103 in the first innings picked six wickets in the second innings. 

India’s skipper Rohit Sharma speaking at the end of the game said that he took full blame for the loss. “From a personal point of view, I wasn't at my best with both bat and as a captain, that's something that'll rankle me. But we didn't perform well collectively and that's the reason for these losses” said the Indian skipper. 

Tom Latham was beaming in delight and said “Very ecstatic. Looking back at the start of the series to now be in this position, the boys have done a fantastic job over the last three Test matches. We are pretty happy. Just being able to adapt to each ground, I wouldn't say it's been a one way of doing things”

Meanwhile, Ajaz Patel was given the player of the game who said “Spin bowling is about rhythm. When you're in such a rhythm, you'll have to make the most of it. When the conditions present themselves, you got to take it by the horns and do something about it”

Rohit Sharma laments on series loss at home to New Zealand 

When asked what went wrong during the series, Rohit Sharma said “You know, losing a series, losing a Test is never easy, it's something that's not easily digestible. Again, we didn't play our best cricket, we know and we have to accept”

The Indian skipper also added “New Zealand did so much better than us throughout the series. We made a lot of mistakes and we'll have to accept it. We didn't put enough runs on the board in the 1st innings in Bengaluru and Pune and we were very much behind in the game, here, we got a 30-run lead, we thought we were ahead, and the target was achievable as well, and all we had to do was to show a bit of application which we failed to do”

Rohit was also asked about his own patchy batting form. The 37-year-old has scored just 91 runs in the series to which he said “Chasing such a target, you want runs on the board as well, that's something that was there in my mind, it didn't come off and when it happens, it doesn't look great. There are certain ideas, certain plans in my mind when I go to bat, but in this series, it didn't come off and that's disappointing for me”