India Captain Rohit Sharma Reflects on Disappointing Home Series Whitewash
In the aftermath of India’s first-ever 3-0 home series whitewash, captain Rohit Sharma has admitted that he was “not at my best” both as a leader and a batter, and that his team “failed as a unit” due to “lots of mistakes” throughout the series.
Chasing a modest target of 147 to salvage some World Test Championship points, India collapsed to 121 all out, succumbing to the spin of Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips. Despite a counterattacking 64-ball 64 from Rishabh Pant, the hosts were in deep trouble early on, slumping to 29 for 5.
“Losing a series, losing a Test match is never easy, but [this is] something that is not easily digested,” Rohit acknowledged at the presentation. “But, again, we didn’t play our best cricket. We know that and we accept that. New Zealand played better than us throughout the series. There were lots of mistakes that we made throughout the series, and we have to accept it.”
Rohit’s personal batting form has been a concern, with scores of 2, 0, 8, 18, and 11 in the six innings, apart from a 52 in the second innings of the first Test in Bengaluru. In the final chase, he managed 11 off 11 balls, failing to execute his trademark pull shot against Matt Henry.
“Look, when you’re chasing a target like that, you want runs on the board as well. And that is something that was there in my mind,” Rohit said. “It just didn’t come off. When it doesn’t come off, it doesn’t look that great. There are certain ideas, certain methods that I go into bat with. Sometimes it doesn’t come off, and this series it hasn’t come off, which I am very disappointed with.”
The captain also acknowledged his shortcomings in leading the team, stating, “As a captain as well, I was not at my best in leading the team, and with the bat as well. That is from a personal point of view.”
However, Rohit found positives in the performances of the younger players, such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, and Washington Sundar, who showed they could score runs on challenging pitches. The seasoned duo of Rohit (91 runs) and Virat Kohli (93 runs) struggled in comparison.
“Those guys showed how to bat on these surfaces,” Rohit said. “You have to be slightly ahead, and be proactive when you’re playing on a pitch like that. Which we all know. Which we have discussed many a time in the last three or four years. We are aware of what we need to do. It’s just that, this was an unfortunate series where it didn’t come off. We tried to do certain things, it didn’t come off. Which is why we lagged behind in the series.”
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