India skipper Rohit Sharma says he won’t “overreact” after the embarrassing series defeat against New Zealand but he underlined the necessity to have a “quiet chat with certain individuals” to discuss the way forward. India lost the second Test by 113 runs after failing in pursuit of a stiff 359-run target. This was India’s first home series defeat in 12 years after conceding a four-match rubber against England 1-2 in 2012-13.
In the interim, India won 18 series at home on the trot.
“You don’t need to overreact. But you need to have a quiet chat with certain individuals and let them know where they are at and what, as a team, we require from them,” said Rohit in the post-match press meet.
Driving home the reality might be on top of his agenda now, but Rohit did not want to make a spectacle out of it.
“I don’t think you need to make them sit in a team room on a one-on-one basis and go through their innings and tell them this is what you should be doing. I don’t think this is the right forum to do that.
“Just because we have lost a series, I don’t think there is anything that we need to talk differently or do differently. But yeah, we need to find ways to come out of those situations,” said Rohit.
Rohit said he trusts his teammates, who have won India so many matches.
“I do not doubt anyone’s ability. I won’t do much postmortem of this, but batters must come with their plans and trust on the plans like New Zealand batters showed.” Some of the seniors in the side such as batting star Virat Kohli, senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were quite peripheral in their impact on this series, which India lost 0-2.
The seasoned triumvirate apart, even skipper Rohit could not fire in the ongoing series as his last four innings read: 2, 52, 0 and 8.
The Mumbaikar understands that such a measured approach is the need of the hour since India will depart next month to Australia for a five-match Test series.
“This is not how we want to play the cricket. But, again, it’s important that when we (the current lot of seniors) were in the place of having played only five or six Test matches, all we wanted was the support from the team, the captain, the coach and the management.
“That is what I’m going to try and do with a lot of guys who haven’t been to Australia or playing their first or second Test matches. So, clear messages, keeping them nice and calm, making them feel that they belong here. That is our responsibility,” he explained.
As an extension, Rohit said he would not want an atmosphere in the team where players start doubting their skills.
“Of course, it (series defeat) is important to look at. But not react so much where the guys who are within the team start feeling that something different is happening.
“I don’t want to create that kind of environment where people start doubting themselves, people start taking unnecessary pressure,” he said.
As a general plea, Rohit urged everyone around to focus on the good things rather than focusing on an odd blip.
“Look at the number of games we have won in India. I think, I was just watching the television, out of the 54 Test matches we have won 42. That’s nearly 80% of the Test matches we have won. So, there are more good things that have happened than the bad things. So why look at bad things so much? “Of course you lose a series here and there. For good 12 years we had that great run which meant that we were doing a lot of good things in those periods,” he said.
The captain also put up a stout defence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, whose lack of control came under the scanner while Mitchell Santner thrived.
“They are expected to run through teams and win matches for us. I don’t think it is fair, it is our collective responsibility to win. Both of them have played so much and such huge contributions in 18 series, these two have played a huge role in that.
“We are talking about someone with 500 and 300 wickets and they have won Tests for us. It is very hard to have expectations on them. It can happen and thats the time others need to step up.
“It is the collective batting unit which needs to come together. It is the same with the bowling unit,” he signed off.
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