"I was not at my best in terms of leadership and that probably cost us series": Rohit Sharma

India skipper Rohit admits his leadership failures cost them the 0-3 series loss to New Zealand; feels 147-run target was chaseable, but team batted poorly

Under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, India witnessed their first whitewash at home as the Tom Latham-led New Zealand team outclassed the hosts in the third and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Rohit admitted he was not at his best while leading the team and with his shot selection.   

“I made a decision about batting first on that Bangalore pitch [in the first Test], which was not right. I made certain tactical errors. Those decisions didn’t go my way. You obviously take chances with those decisions. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. And this time around it didn’t come off. I was not at my best in terms of leadership and that probably cost us the series,” Rohit said during the post-match press conference.

Also Read: India need big Oz series win to reach WTC final

Poor shot selection

The hosts needed 147 to win the Mumbai Test when opener Rohit (11) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) started the proceedings in the second essay. However, after hitting a couple of fours, Rohit attempted to play the pull shot off pacer Matt Henry (1-10) — but couldn’t get enough on it as Glenn Phillips (3-42) took a superb catch at mid-wicket.

“As for shot selection, it wasn’t up to the mark, starting from me. But, the only thing I would say is that when you are chasing a target like that, you want to try and put the pressure on the bowlers. You can’t allow bowlers to bowl on one particular slot. You have to try and do something about it. I played a bad shot, yes, but I don’t regret it because that [the pull shot] has given me a lot of success in the past, so I will continue to do that,” Rohit remarked.  

‘Lots of mistakes’

Like Rohit, it was the similar case for other India batters as the Kiwi bowlers, led by left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel (5-103 and 6-57), bowled out the hosts in just 29.1 overs. “I accept the fact that we were not good enough with the bat in the entire series. There were a lot of good things that happened during the series with the bat. But yeah, the couple of innings of the first two Tests where we fell very, very short in the first innings, and then New Zealand were ahead in the game, that cost us those games. Even now, I thought 147 should have been chaseable. But we were just not good enough with the bat. We didn’t apply ourselves. There were a lot of mistakes,” Rohit said.

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