The Indian captain Rohit Sharma has remained unconcerned despite their rare and record-breaking defeat in the opening of the three-match Test series against New Zealand with a margin of eight wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The hosts were blown away for just 46 in the first innings of the game after they opted to bat first on a wet surface which was under covers for nearly four days.
This was the third-lowest innings total for the Rohit Sharma-led side and by far the poorest at home in the longest format. Five of their batters earned ducks in the innings, including Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Matt Henry, with his seam and swing, troubled the home batters.
When New Zealand put on over 400 runs in their first innings, the pressure was always on the home side, who, in the second innings, displayed great character and resilience with the bat. The opening stand of 72 runs put up a good platform.
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When they lost a few quick wickets on that point, it was the 136-run partnership for the third wicket between Sarfaraz and Kohli that stabled the ship a little in the middle. The latter got out on the last ball of the third day’s play, but the former cracked another giant stand of 177 runs for the fourth wicket with Rishabh Pant, who was dismissed for an unfortunate 99.
Rohit Sharma refuses to rate the three hours of the Test behind their team’s quality
Sarfaraz justified the decision of Rohit Sharma to make a comeback in the side with a magnificent 150-run knock, shouldering on the 18 boundaries and three sixes at a strike rate of nearly 80. But the second new ball did the trick for the Blackcaps, who picked up the last six wickets for just 29 runs.
The Indian captain highlighted that those bad three hours on the opening day of the Test match won’t be going to define the side, which has earned some incredible achievements in the five-day format of the game.
“Even here, there are a lot of good things that happened along with 3-4 hours of bad cricket. So, keeping a lot of cricket in mind that is coming up, I am not going to look too much into this Test match. That 3 hours is not going to dictate what this team is. It would be very unfair to think about those three hours and start judging players and talking slightly differently.” The Indian captain addressed at the post-match press conference.
When India played their last Test match in Pune, it was during the 2016/17 season against Australia, and on a rank turner, they could only post 107 and 105 in the two innings of the game. The visiting side went on to claim the contest with a 333-run victory.
“Looking forward to the second Test in Pune, we know, exactly, what we need to do and where we lie as a team. It’s about keeping a calm atmosphere and not sending panic messages. It’s important we stay strong and try and see how we can nail the second game.” Rohit Sharma mentioned in the presser. “All in all, I thought, except that first couple of hours, three hours, I thought, we played very good Test cricket.”
The inspiration for the Blue Brigade would be looking at the past when on multiple occasions, they lost the opening game of the series but have made a strong comeback to register a victory.