It's an open secret that Indian team management dictates terms when it comes to deciding the nature of pitches for home Test series, and captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday admitted the hosts felt having turning tracks was the "right thing to do" against New Zealand. (Match Highlights | More Cricket News)
While India dominated visiting teams on spin-friendly wickets to put together 18 consecutive series wins at home in last 12 years, the choice to play on turning tracks against New Zealand backfired in Pune and Mumbai.
With their batters coming up short, India lost each of these matches inside three days for a first-ever 0-3 whitewash on home soil, following a huge defeat in the opening Test in Bengaluru on a seaming wicket.
"Playing on pitches and all of that... we don't decide so much before. It is based on series-to-series (as to) what we want," he told reporters when asked if India need to revisit their strategy of playing on turning tracks at home.
"We played on really good pitches against England and this time around we felt that this is the right thing for us to do as a team," said Rohit.
"More often than not, we have come on the right side of it. This is the only time where we have fallen short in terms of what we wanted to achieve from this series," he said.
Rohit's admission was in contrast to what former player and current India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said before the Mumbai Test.
"I wish we could curate pitches, but we don't. The curators do. Whatever we're provided with, we go on and play with it — (whether) that would be a pitch that seamed or a pitch that turned," Nayar had said in the lead-up to the third Test.
"We try and play what we're provided with. We don't try and get conditions according to what we want."
India have had their share of heavy defeats along the way as the 113-run drubbing in Pune and 25-run loss in Mumbai in this series now join their other rare defeats at home -- against Australia by 333 runs in Pune in 2016-17 and by eight wickets in Indore in 2023-24.
Rohit defended India's new coaching staff under Gautam Gambhir (head coach), comprising Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate (the Netherlands), Morne Morkel (South Africa) and T Dilip, who retained his position as the team's fielding coach.
"They've just come in, it's not been a lot of time (spent) for them. They are also understanding how this team and players operate. This is obviously a first Test series loss in the two. It's the player's responsibility to make their job or make their life easier," he said.
"It's never easy for anyone to come in and start doing what they are doing. There are a lot of different individuals and they operate slightly differently. It's been only four or five months now, too early to judge anything," he added.
Rohit admitted India's shot selection was questionable as they slipped to 29 for five chasing 147 in the third Test.
"It wasn't up to the mark, starting from me. When you are chasing a target like that, you want to try and put the pressure on the bowlers. You can't allow bowlers to bowl on one particular slot," he said.
"I played a bad shot, yes — but I don't regret it honestly speaking — because that has given me a lot of success in the past. I'll continue to do that," said Rohit after miscuing a pull to be caught at midwicket.
Rohit said it was important for India to ensure maximum training time for batters in Australia as the team management cancelled an intra-squad match before the first Test starting on November 22 in Perth.
"Rather than (playing a) practice match, we have planned a very match simulation kind of a thing with India A," he said.
"We are travelling with a squad of 19 players and it was only three days that were allotted to us. I don't know how much workload can we get done in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared."
India might have averted a 0-3 loss if Rishabh Pant, who waged a lone battle with a fine 64 on Sunday, had not been a victim of a contentious caught-behind DRS appeal as he looked set to seal it in favour of the hosts.
"About that dismissal, I honestly, I don't know. If we say something, it is not accepted well," Rohit said.
"But if there is not conclusive evidence, it has to stand with the umpire's on-field decision. That is what I have been told. I don't know how that decision was overturned, since the umpire didn't give him out.
"The bat was clearly close to the pad so, again, I don't know if it is the right thing for me to talk about. It is something for the umpires to think about. Have the same rules for every team, not keep changing their mind," he added.
