Indian captain Rohit Sharma has admitted that he was “disheartened” to see his team bowled out for a mere 46 runs on the second day of the first Test against New Zealand. After the first day’s play was washed out due to rain, Rohit won the toss and chose to bat on the second day. However, India was dismissed in just 31.2 overs, with five batsmen failing to open their account. Rohit confessed that he had misread the pitch. Before the press conference began, Rohit jokingly told the reporters, “Bring out the swords,” inviting them to ask tough questions.
During the post-match press conference, Rohit took full responsibility for the team’s low score, saying, “As captain, I feel sad seeing a score of 46, especially since the decision to bat first was mine. But, one or two poor decisions in a year can be tolerated.” Previously, India’s lowest Test score on home soil was 75, recorded against West Indies in Delhi in 1987.
Rohit acknowledged that his team couldn’t handle the challenge posed by New Zealand’s fast bowlers. He said, “We couldn’t respond well to the challenge in front of us. Sometimes, you make the right decisions, and sometimes you don’t. This time, I was on the wrong side.”
He added, “Today was a bad day for us. But we have played many such matches before, and we need to challenge ourselves as much as possible.” When asked why he chose to bat despite the cloudy conditions before the toss, Rohit explained, “We felt that there wasn’t much grass on the pitch. We thought it would settle down after the first few sessions and start to turn.”
Rohit also mentioned, “Whenever we play in India, the first session is always crucial, and then the pitch usually improves, allowing the spinners to come into play.” Regarding his decision to pick left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav over fast bowler Avesh Khan despite the overcast conditions, Rohit said, “As I mentioned, there wasn’t much grass on the pitch. Kuldeep has taken wickets on flat pitches before, so we expected the pitch to flatten out, but that didn’t happen.”