Losing a Test is never easy – Rohit Sharma

It was a tough outing for Team India as they slumped down to their third straight defeat against New Zealand. Despite the bowlers pulling off an incredible show, the batters could barely scratch the surface. Rishabh Pant was the solitary warrior for Team India with a valiant 64 but he had no support whatsoever from the others.

India captain, Rohit Sharma highlighted the woes of the Indian cricket team while talking at the post-match presentation. He lauded the Blackcaps for their incredible showdown in the Test series while expressing his disappointment with India’s meek surrender despite being within touching distance of what could have been a win.

Talking about the match, Rohit Sharma said, “Yeah, absolutely, 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 it. They (New Zealand) did so much better than us throughout the series. We made a lot of mistakes and we'll have to accept it.”

Stating further, Rohit said, “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, the target was achievable as well, all we had to do was to show a bit of application which we failed to do.”

Talking about his own batting, Rohit 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.”

He also shed some light on how the batting approach should have been, stating, “Those guys showed how to bat on these surfaces (on Pant, Jaiswal and Gill), you've got to be slightly ahead and be proactive when we play on a pitch like that we are playing on such pitches in the last 3-4 years, we know how to play (and play well). But this series, it didn't come off, certain things (on how to bat in such pitches) which didn't come off, and that's going to hurt.”

He concluded by talking about his own batting, stating, “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.”