New Delhi: Indian captain Rohit Sharma reacted to the team’s dismal batting performance after the conclusion of the second day of the first Test match against New Zealand played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Coming into the game after a rampant win against Bangladesh in Kanpur at the start of the month, India failed to live up to the hype. A contrasting batting show was displayed against the experienced bowling attack of the Black Caps.
After India opted to bat first, New Zealand pacers Matt Henry (5 for 15) and William R O’Rourke (4 for 22) decimated the home side with immaculate lines and lengths. India were bowled out for 46 in 31.2 overs with Rishabh Pant (20) being the top-scorer for them. Five batters were dismissed without scoring any runs, including Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.
This was the lowest Test total by the Indian men’s team on home soil in the history of the red-ball format. It was also the first time when the team failed to cross the 50-run mark in an innings in home conditions.
“I am hurting to see this score of 46 as a captain as it was my call to bat first. But one or two bad calls in a year is quite alright,” Rohit said at the day-end press conference.
“You try and make the judgement. Sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you don’t. I was on the other side of it this time around,” he added.
Rohit comments on misjudgement of reading the pitch
Another bigger criticism of Indian team was playing a pace bowler short with just Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in their bowling unit. The backlash comes after a Duleep Trophy game between India A and India B, played at the same venue last month, saw pace bowlers snapping away with 34 of the 40 wickets fallen on the flat surface.
“We expected the pitch to be little flatter than what it turned out to be. So clearly a misjudgement of the pitch. Obviously, I didn’t read the pitch well enough and we sit in that situation today,” Rohit said on the pitch assessment.
India fielded three spinners in contrast to New Zealand’s plans. All three spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav picked up a wicket apiece, though the visitors are 134 runs ahead in the first innings with seven wickets available at their disposal.
