India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma© AFP
India succumbed to its first-ever Test series loss at home in 12 years on Saturday after New Zealand thrashed them by 113 runs in the second Test. The last time India lost a Test series at home, it was against Alastair Cook-led England in 2012. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner weaved magic with his 6-104 in the second innings on Saturday as New Zealand did the unimaginable by clinching a historic Test series win in India for the first time with a 113-run victory over the hosts. Santner, who took 7-53 in the first innings, rattled India yet again with a remarkable spell of 6-104 to end up with match figures of 13-157, the third-best match figures for a bowler from his country in Tests.
Captain Rohit Sharma in the post match press conference said because of India's great showing, the expectation at home was always high from the team.
"12 saal mein ekbar to allowed hai yaar. Itna collapses agar 12 saal se ho raha tha to shayad hum jeet he nahi hai paate. India me humara expectations bahut rehta hai, ki hum jo bhi match khelenge, humko jeetna he hai. Humne hi aadat banaya hai wo, aap logo ka galti nahi hai, itna acha cricket Indian team ne khela hai to wo expectations ek level ke upar chala gaya hai (We are allowed one such performance in 12 years. If we were collapsing like this on a regular basis then we would not have been winning at home. We have a lot of expectations. We are expected to win every game at our home, and it is because of our performances)," said Rohit in the post-match press conference.
The comment was heavily criticised by social media users.
— Jyotirmay Das (@dasjy0tirmay) October 26, 2024
Nahi chalta Bhaisaab.. Chalta hai approach waale nhi chahiye aur! Ye 4-5 players ki jageh ab naye logo ko mauka diya jana chahiye..
— AB Anubhav (@ab97917000) October 26, 2024
Ajit wadekar never dared say this after 1974 debacle in England. A lot of insult heaped on the team. Though players had to do full time jobs to earn their living. He was in State Bank of India on his merits. He was M. Sc. First division.
— ASHOK CHANDWASKAR (@ASHOKCHAND237) October 26, 2024
Shameless!!!
— AK (@rwamit) October 26, 2024
Rohit also admitted that the batters should perform better.
"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," Rohit said during the post-match press conference.
"It's disappointing. It's not what we expected. We got to give credit to New Zealand as they played better than us. We failed to respond to those challenges." Then Rohit touched in detail on the batting malfunction part.
"I 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.
"It was a great fightback to restrict them to 250-odd (in the first innings) but we knew it was going to be challenging. It wasn't a pitch where a lot was happening. Things would've been slightly different had we got a bit closer in the first innings," he said.