I failed as captain, batsman: Rohit Sharma after historic loss

India skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that he failed as a leader and a batsman in the series against New Zealand.

Sharma and Virat Kohli, the two most experienced batsmen in the Indian camp, failed to get going as India were whitewashed in a series of three or more Tests for the first time in their history.  

India lost the Tests in Bengaluru, Pune, and Mumbai. They failed to chase a 147-run target at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

“Something like this will be a very low point in my career, losing three games at home. I fully take responsibility as captain and leader. I have not been at the best of my abilities right from the start of the series. With the bat as well, I have not been good enough,” said a disappointed Rohit in the post series press conference.

“I made a decision of batting first on that Bengaluru pitch which wasn’t right and [I made] certain tactical errors, [made some decisions] which didn’t go my way. You obviously take chances, with those decisions. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don’t. I was not at the best of my leadership. That probably cost us the series.”

Sharma also blamed shot selection by the batsmen but refused to blame them for their approach.

“Shot selection wasn’t up to the mark. The only thing I’d say if you are chasing a target, you can’t allow one particular bowler to bowl in one spot for long. You have to try and target them. I played a bad shot yes, but I don’t regret it because that has given me a lot of success in the past. I will continue to do it. We were not good enough with the bat in the entire series,” he added further.

The 37-year-old also blamed himself for not spending time at the pitch and plans to have a relook at his own game.

“I haven’t defended a lot in this series because I haven’t been there much to defend. I need to spend more time to defend the ball. It has been only these two series I have not spend a lot of time on the crease. I will relook at my game.”

The India opener, who has not committed himself on playing the first Test, said that the plan of playing on track that supports spin backfired for once.

“We go according to series by series. We don’t decide beforehand. Against England, we played on very good pitches. We thought this is the right thing to do as a team. More often than not we have come on the right side of it. This is the only time we have fallen short.”

India hadn’t been whitewashed in a series of three or more Tests in the past until now. They had lost three consecutive Tests only twice before – 1958-59 against West Indies and 1976-77 against England – but those were five-Test series.

Tags : Cricket, Rohit Sharma, India, New Zealand, Mumbai, Wankhede Stadium