Rohit backs India’s batsmen despite setbacks against New Zealand
2 mins read

Rohit backs India’s batsmen despite setbacks against New Zealand

Oct 26 (Reuters) – India skipper Rohit Sharma refused to put pressure on his batsmen after the team’s 113-run loss to New Zealand in the second Test on Saturday but said individuals must trust and execute their own plans to improve.

Bundled out for 156 in their first innings in reply to New Zealand’s 259, the hosts managed just 245 while chasing 359 to crash to a humbling three-day defeat as the tourists won their first Test series in India.

Rohit’s side were bowled out for 46 in the first innings of their opening defeat in Bengaluru and Saturday’s result meant they lost a home series for the first time since 2012.

“It (the failure) has happened in two Test matches. We have won 18 (straight) series in India, so that means we have done a lot of good things,” Rohit told reporters.

“In this series, we might not have been able to bat the way we wanted, but such things happen. We have scored runs consistently on challenging pitches in India. I don’t want to think that we have done much wrong.

“Two of our at-bats were bad, two or three innings were bad, but it happens. Sometimes you consistently win games and do well but in one or two series it doesn’t happen.

“I can’t doubt anybody’s ability. … I don’t want to do a post-mortem, but yeah, we see what to do differently in situations like that. All the batters have to come up with their own plan, all the batters have to trust their plan.”

India head to Australia for a challenging five-match tour next month and will need victories to improve their chances of reaching a third consecutive World Test Championship (WTC) final.

“I think it’s too early to think about WTC. I’m just hurt because we lost the game, that’s what I’ll say, I can’t think about what’s ahead,” Rohit said.

“I think we didn’t play well enough in those two games and it hurts, we lost the series, it hurts.

“There are things that need to be done as a unit, not just the batsmen but also the bowlers; it’s a collective failure.”

Sign up here.

Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.opens new tab

Buy license rights