'It hurts, I made the call': Rohit Sharma on India's decision to bat in first Test against New Zealand | Cricket News

BENGALURU: His decision to throw backfired. During his grueling 30-minute stay at the crease, he managed two runs. His team achieved a record result. He was guilty of wasting a regular catch-and-half chance. Being Rohit Sharma wasn't easy on Thursday.
With India in dire straits at home, all eyes were on Rohit. There were many mistakes from the Indian team M Chinnaswamy Stadium here, but Rohit handled it all with humor and humility.

Rohit was at a loss for words at times during his post-match press conference, which lasted less than 10 minutes, but when asked about the toss call, he didn't bat an eyelid and said, “I didn't read.” We did The pitch was handled well enough and this is the situation we find ourselves in today. We expected the playing field to be a little flatter than it turned out. So clearly a misjudgment of the playing field. It hurts me a little bit because I made that call,” he lamented.
A dense cloud cover hung heavily on the ground, necessitating the use of floodlights, but it was surprising that India opted for two pacers and three spinners, using Kuldeep Yadav at Akash Deep.

Explaining the team call, Rohit said, “We felt there was no grass on the pitch. We thought it would do everything it needed to do in the first few sessions, and then it would make a series of changes as the game progressed. It's like that every time we play in India. The first session is always critical and then the wicket tends to settle down and that's when the spinners come into play.
“We decided to add Kuldeep because he is brave on flat pitches and has taken wickets. We expected the playing field to be a little flatter than it turned out.

Those who were not dealt with by good deliveries did not hesitate to shoot themselves. Like opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who held one end together for over 100 minutes before deciding to beat William O'Rourke through the point but failing to keep him under control and watching in disbelief as Ajaz Patel gave a screamer intercepted at the rear point.
KL Rahul also failed to get his wicket while Ravindra Jadeja's flick went astray. Five Indian batsmen failed to open their account.

Although Rohit was among the batsmen who struggled that day, he supported the batting line-up.
“Every batsman that came in had a plan of how to play because everyone knew what the pitch was and what was happening. But sometimes it happens that you try to do something and that plan doesn't work,” he reasons.

“Replacing the pants is a precautionary measure”
In the 37th over of New Zealand's innings, a delivery from Ravindra Jadeja to Devon Conway turned sharply and hit Rishabh Pant's right kneecap. The wicketkeeper fell to the ground with a grimace of pain before he was helped off the ground.
The situation seemed alarming, considering it was the knee that had undergone surgery following Pant's life-threatening car accident.
“Unfortunately the ball hit his kneecap. He has a little swelling and the muscles are quite tender at this point. So it (replacing Pant with Dhruv Jurel) is a precautionary measure. We don’t want to take any risks,” said captain Rohit Sharma.
“Rishabh doesn’t want to take any risks. Hopefully he can recover tonight (near Thursday).”
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