It's a collective failure - Rohit Sharma on India's loss to New Zealand in Pune Test
India met an unwanted fate after 12 staggering years as they crumbled to New Zealand in the second Test as well, conceding a Test series at home. A warring display by Yashashvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja wasn't enough to help India stay afloat as the persistence from the Kiwi bowlers was overwhelming.
Talking at the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma pointed out where the entire game went wrong for India. He credited New Zealand for their incredible display in all the departments while vowing to show better intent in Wankhede.
Rohit said, "Disappointing. It's not what we expected. Got to give credit to NZ - they played better than us. We failed to capitalise on certain moments. We failed to respond to those challenges."
He further added, "And we sit here today. Didn't think we batted well enough to get runs on the board. You've got to pick 20 wickets to win, yes, but batters have to put runs on the board. Was a great fightback to restrict them to 250-odd but we knew it was going to be challenging."
Underlining the conditions, Rohit said, "When they started off, they were 200/3 and for us to come back and get them bowled out for 259 was a great effort. Wasn't a pitch where a lot was happening. We just didn't bat well enough. Things would've been slightly different had we got a bit closer in the first innings."
He concluded with a pledge to do better at Wankhede, stating, "We want to show up well at Wankhede and try and win that Test. It's a collective failure. I'm not somebody who would blame just the batters or the bowlers. We will come out with better intent, better ideas and better methods at Wankhede."