Pune, Oct 26 (IANS): After India lost a Test series at home for the first time in 12 years through a 113-run defeat to New Zealand here on Saturday giving the visitors an unassailable 2-0 lead, skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that the result happened due to a collective failure as the team could not respond to the challenges thrown at them.
After losing by eight wickets in the first Test in Bengaluru, India needed to win the second game in Pune to keep their series-winning record intact at home. But Mitchell Santner’s match figures of 13-157, including triggering a collapse in India’s chase of 359, meant the hosts were bowled out for 245 on Day Three.
“Disappointing, as it's not what we expected. I have to give credit to New Zealand - they played better than us. We failed to capitalise on certain moments. We failed to respond to those challenges thrown at us, and we sit here today with this result.”
“We want to show up well at Wankhede and try and win that Test. It's a collective failure. I'm not somebody who would blame just the batters or the bowlers. We will come out with better intent, better ideas, and better methods at Wankhede,” said a disappointed Rohit in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Defeat in Pune also snapped India's streak of 18 successive home series wins. The issue of Indian batters falling in a heap, especially against spinners, came back to haunt them on a spin-friendly pitch in Pune. In the first innings at Pune, India lost nine wickets for just 106 runs to be all out for 156 and give a 103-run first-innings lead to New Zealand.
“Didn't think we batted well enough to get runs on the board. You've got to pick 20 wickets to win, yes, but batters have to put runs on the board. Was a great fightback to restrict them to 250-odd but we knew it was going to be challenging.”
“When they started, they were 200/3 and for us to come back and get them bowled out for 259 was a great effort. Wasn't a pitch where a lot was happening. We just didn't bat well enough. Things would've been slightly different had we got a bit closer in the first innings,” added Rohit.