NEW DELHI: Captain Rohit Sharma made it clear that India may have suffered a first Test series loss since 2012 but reassured that there is no need to hit the panic button.
He emphasized that the team has had a successful run over the past 12 years and will focus on identifying areas for improvement.”I am not going to overreact after this defeat. You need to chat with certain players. There’s no need to sit in a corner and discuss each innings. Clear messages, keeping them calm and that is our responsibility (towards youngsters),” Rohi said at the post match press conference.
India suffered their first home Test series loss in 12 years, as New Zealand handed them a humiliating 113-run defeat, led by Mitchell Santner’s remarkable 13-wicket haul in the second Test. This victory secured New Zealand an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
“We had a great run for 12 years, we were doing great things during this period. I don’t think there’s anything that we need to talk differently and do differently. We will think about what we didn’t do well and what we can improve but I don’t need to open a medical kit and start doing differently things. We need to understand that this team has done a lot of good things in the past”, he added.
After suffering their fourth defeat in the current World Test Championship cycle, India now lead Australia by just 0.32 percentage points, holding 62.82 points compared to Australia’s 62.50. However, Rohit stated that it’s too early to focus on the WTC standings and emphasized that the team cannot dwell on what lies ahead.
“It’s too early to think of WTC. I am hurting because we lost the game. I can’t think of what lies ahead and whether it affects our chances. I am hurting because we lost the series. There are things we need to do. If you lose a Test, it is because the collective unit failed. If you win, everyone deserves credit. If you lose, everyone needs to take the blame,” he said
“We have won 18 series in a row at home. So we have done a good job. In this series, we didn’t bat as well as required. These things happen. We have scored on challenging wickets. I don’t want to dwell on these two poor Tests much. Two or three bad innings happen. What we wanted to do in this series with the bat didn’t work. Don’t want to do a post-mortem a lot. But yes, we want to trust our plan, our process, our method. The New Zealand batters showed that. We used to do that. So, yeah it happens,” Rohit added.
