Rohit Sharma Takes Responsibility for Misreading Pitch in India's Batting Collapse against NZ: 'Clearly, a Misjudgment on My Part'

With an abundance of assistance for the seamers on the pitch, the New Zealand pacers capitalized on the conditions to full advantage, causing havoc for the Indian batters right from the start. Although Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal managed to survive the first 30 minutes, they never looked comfortable at the crease and Rohit's dismissal triggered a collapse, leading to a rapid succession of wickets.

Virat Kohli batted at no.3 in the absence of Shubman Gill, while Sarfaraz Khan was promoted to 4, but both departed without troubling the scorers. Only Jaiswal (13) and Rishabh Pant (20) managed to breach double figures in a sorry-looking scorecard, as Matt Henry (5/15) and William ORourke (4/22) wreaked havoc on the batting lineup.

In the press conference following the day's play, Rohit acknowledged that he made a mistake in reading the pitch. India decided to take the field with only two spinners, while New Zealand didn't introduce any during India's first innings.

“We felt there wasn't grass on the pitch, we thought it would do whatever it would do in the first couple of sessions. And it will turn as the game goes on. Whenever we play in India, the first session is critical, and then spinners come into play. The reason to bring Kuldeep was he has taken wickets on flat pitches. So, we expected the pitch to be flatter than it was. Clearly, it was a misjudgment of the pitch, I didn't read the pitch well enough. And we are in this situation today,” said Rohit.

Rohit stressed that the Indian batters had a bad day on the field, stating that it was difficult to “execute” the plans.

“You can say that. We got all out for 46. There was help for seamers, and you need to make game plans for that. We have been successful on such wickets, all batters had some plan. But sometimes, you can't execute what you're planning. We had a bad day. But we have been a part of such matches. It's a challenge, and you got to challenge yourself,” said the Indian captain further.