India captain Rohit Sharma said he was taking full responsibility for the humbling 0-3 loss in the home Test series against New Zealand. Addressing the press in Mumbai on Sunday, a deflated Rohit said he was not at his best both as captain and batter.
India lost a home Test series with more than two matches 0-3 for the first time in the history of the sport. India had gone unbeaten for 18 Test series on the trot since the start of 2013, but the streak came to a shuddering halt against a visiting New Zealand side, who were not favourites by any stretch of the imagination when they landed in India in October without their best batter Kane Williamson.
After they were outplayed by pace in Bengaluru, India failed the trial by spin in Pune and Mumbai, failing to step up with the bat in any of the three Tests.
“It is quite tough. It tells you nothing is easy in life. One day, you are on a high and one day you are not. That’s something that I have learnt from a very young age,” Rohit Sharma said.
“That’s something that I use to make sure I don’t get carried away by the results. Life is not about highs, it has lows as well.
“Something like this will be a very low point in my career, having lost three games at home. And I fully take responsibility of that. As a captain and as a leader as well, I have not been at the best of my abilities right from the start of the series. And with the bat, I have not been good enough,” Rohit added.
Rohit Sharma also conceded that he made tactical errors, highlighting the decision to bat first on an overcast morning on the first day of the series in Bengaluru, and conceded that some of them may have influenced the 0-3 scoreline.
“You have to be proactive, last three-four years we have been playing on pitches like that. This was an unfortunate series where we tried certain things that did not come off. I was not at my best as captain in leading the team as well as with the bat. Collectively as a unit we failed to perform,” he added.
India paid the price for not spending enough time in the middle against spin. Collapses were aplenty across all six innings of the Test series and Rohit said the senior pros needed to learn a lot from the likes of Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant who were able to find ways to counter the spin threat.
India will look to put behind the disappointment of the whitewash at home and look forward to doing well in Australia. The five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy will get underway from November 22.
