‘A very low point in my career’, says Rohit after 0-3 defeat to NZ, accepts making tactical blunders

Mumbai: India captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday termed the 0-3 series whitewash against New Zealand as “a very low point” in his career and he failed to live up to the standard both as a leader and as a batsman. He also admitted that he made some tactical mistakes that cost India the series.

India were outplayed by New Zealand in all departments of the game, getting shot out for 46 in the first innings of the first Test at Bengaluru they lost by eight wickets, and could manage only 156 in their first innings in the 113-run debacle on a turning track in Pune and were shot out for 121 chasing 147 runs in the second innings on a rank turner at the Wankhede on Sunday and were humbled in three successive Test matches at home for the first time.

“It is important, you know, for me to understand that life is not about just highs. There can be lows as well, which I have seen a lot throughout my career. But definitely, something like this will be a very low point in my career, having lost three games at home. I fully take responsibility for that as a captain and as a leader as well. I have not been at the best of my abilities right from the start of the series. And, yeah, with the bat as well, I’ve not been good enough,” said a candid Rohit in the post-match press conference after India suffered a 25-run defeat in the third and final Test on Sunday.

Rohit admitted that they will have to have relook at their strategy to go for spinning tracks in light of the Indian batters’ failure in Pune and at the Wankhede.

“Yeah, of course. Look, playing on pitches and all of that we don’t decide so much before. It is based on series to series what we want. We laid on really good pitches against England, and this time around, we felt that this was the right thing for us to do as a team. You know, more often than not, we’ve come on the right side of it. This is the only time where we’ve fallen short in terms of what we wanted to achieve from this series,” said the India captain.

Asked what he thinks were the mistakes he has made in this series, Rohit said some tactical decisions that he made did not go his way in the series.

“Right from the start, I made a decision about batting first on that Bangalore pitch which was not right and (there were) certain tactical errors also which 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 the certain decisions that that I took. So yeah, I was not at my best of my leadership and (that) probably cost us the series as well,” said Rohit.

He said dealing with a 0-3 whitewash, the first for India at home, is quite tough for them. “It is quite tough. And it tells you nothing is easy in life. You know, one day you’re on a high, one day you’re not. And that is something that I’ve learnt at a very young age about life. But that is something that personally, I also drive myself through with not getting carried away with certain things in life.

“It is important, you know, for me to understand that life is not about just highs. There can be lows as well, which I have seen a lot throughout my career,” said Rohit, turning philosophical about the worst series played by India in recent times.

–IANS