Rohit Sharma will look to redeem himself and come up with a better strategy, for India can’t afford further hiccups in the rubber.
The Indian captain Rohit Sharma has been subjected to heavy criticism following India’s defeat over New Zealand in Bengaluru. To outclass India in their own backyard is never easy, for only a few teams have managed to achieve it, becoming only the third team after Australia and England to hand a defeat to India in India since 2013.
On Day 5, Rohit’s decision to delay Ravichandran Ashwin’s entry remained a major topic of discussion, with a couple of former Indian players criticising the move. Among them was Sanjay Manjrekar, who, on ESPNcricinfo, pointed out how Ashwin could have been effective with the new ball and that pacers are always prone to leaking runs, even if they take wickets.
“Yes (on whether he was surprised with Ashwin’s delay), and something I thought would happen because India has done it so very often. I can understand maybe Siraj getting one or two overs, I can understand Bumrah getting a long spell, but Siraj bowled six overs in that first spell – that’s far too many, and already enough runs were on the board and then you just had very little margin to chase. Ashwin – when there’s no turn in the pitch or no lavish turn in the pitch, captains tend to use him with the new ball a lot more, and he would have been tough for Kiwi batters had he started off with Bumrah, or even if he had come in and bowled the fourth over of the innings.”
“The thing with pace is that you might get wickets, but there are always runs coming through edges. Against turn, against spinners, they would have to take risks, and I was really surprised. I would also say that tactically maybe Rohit Sharma’s Test match wasn’t his greatest.”
In the same vein, Parthiv Patel, former Indian wicketkeeper, also talked about the late introduction of Ashwin in the attack. On Colors Cineplex, he labelled Rohit’s captaincy “surprising”.
“It was slightly surprising because you want your main bowler to bowl as much as possible. In fact, we were discussing whether he would bowl with the new ball or not because he is even more effective with the new ball, especially when he bowls in the fourth innings. Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was definitely slightly surprising. When he (Ashwin) came to bowl for two overs, there also he beat the batter two or three times. I feel when he (Rohit) looks back or goes to the press conference, he will definitely be asked why he didn’t bowl Ravichandran Ashwin.”
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There could be multiple reasons not to bring Ashwin till the end moment, but the most sensible seems his below-par performance in the first innings. He bowled 16 overs in the first dig and conceded as many as 94 runs at an economy of 5.90 while taking only a solitary wicket.
Rohit made a few inappropriate calls throughout this game – he made a wrong decision at the toss, delayed Bumrah’s entry during New Zealand’s first innings when Rachin Ravindra and Tim Southee formed a big partnership, over bowled Bumrah and Siraj and delayed Ashwin’s entry in the second dig. He will look to redeem himself and come up with a better strategy, for India can’t afford further hiccups in the rubber.
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