India vs New Zealand: ‘Chalao talvaar’ – how Rohit Sharma fronted the media and took responsibility after horror day

An India captain fronting up to the media on days like these is rare. Virat Kohli did address the journalists after the 36 all out in Adelaide in 2020, but the Test ended the same day. Usually, a member of the support staff faces the media and dodges bullets in the middle of the game.

🗣️ The ball hit Rishabh Pant on his knee cap. He has a bit of swelling on it, and the muscles are a bit tender.#TeamIndia Captain Rohit Sharma shares an update on the Pant’s on-field injury#INDvNZ | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/PPSY5lcdZk

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 17, 2024

Here Rohit took the blame on himself — “clear misjudgment on my part” — and tried to spin a positive angle to tricky questions. He admitted that it was his call to bat first on a seaming track. He explained the rationale: “I am hurting a little bit because I made that call. You see and you try and make the judgement. Sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you don’t. This time I was on the other side.”

It was the lack of grass that prompted the decision to bat first as well as include a third spinner in Kuldeep Yadav, he stressed. “We felt there was not a lot of grass on the pitch. So we picked Kuldeep because he’s bowled on flat pitches and taken wickets. So we expected the pitch to be a little flatter than what it turned out to be,” the skipper said.

Rohit didn’t venture out on a justification trip, as some captains tend to. “This time around, it didn’t come off. We didn’t respond well to the challenges that were thrown at us. As a captain, it definitely hurts to see that number (46). But in 365 days you’ll make two or three bad calls. That’s okay,” he said.

While revealing that it was Virat Kohli’s decision to promote himself up the order in the absence of regular No 3 Shubman Gill, the captain lauded him for embracing the challenge on a difficult surface. “He was the one who was ready to do that. It’s a good sign, we have players coming up and taking that responsibility and owning up to the challenge.We asked him whether he can manage it because we wanted to give Sarfaraz (Khan) the position he usually bats at, at number four or five,” Rohit argued.

The think tank didn’t want to disturb KL Rahul, who has previously opened in Tests and scored hundreds in Australia, South Africa and England. “After a long time, KL has found himself set at number six, so we want to make him bat there,” he said.

To the parting question on whether tall bowlers like William O’Rourke tend to torment India frequently, Rohit replied, breaking into an amused grin: “If a left-armer does well, you will ask are we struggling against them. Sometimes a six-foot-five-inch bowler takes wickets. Bowlers will take wickets. We just didn’t play well,” he said, wrapping the session with a smile.