NEW DELHI: India captain Rohit Sharma urged his team to focus on the upcoming third Test rather than dwell on their shock series defeat to New Zealand. The Kiwis claimed a historic 113-run victory in Pune on Saturday, snapping India’s 12-year unbeaten home Test series streak and securing their first-ever Test series win on Indian soil.
The defeat not only ended India’s 18-series home winning streak but also jeopardized their chances of securing a spot in next year’s ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final. India’s lead in the WTC standings was cut to just 0.32 PCT, and they now need four wins from the remaining six Tests in the cycle, five of which are against Australia in Australia.
Despite the significant impact on their WTC final chances, Rohit emphasized that the team’s immediate priority is the third Test against New Zealand rather than thinking ahead to the final.”I am hurting because we lost the game,” Rohit said in the post-match press conference on Saturday. “It was not a pitch to score 250, and we just want to come out with better intent and mindset in the last Test. As for the WTC Final, we are not thinking about that at the moment.”
Rohit refrained from dwelling on the result, noting that the team has had a consistent run of success at home over the years. “It has happened in the last two Test matches, but we’ve won 18 consecutive series at home, which means we’ve done a lot of things right. We’ve performed exceptionally well over the past number of years,” he said.
Instead of conducting a “post-mortem” of the defeat, the Indian skipper acknowledged the challenges the team faced and highlighted the resilience of his players. He also commended New Zealand’s batters for their composed approach in difficult conditions.
“I don’t want to doubt anyone’s potential,” Rohit added. “These guys have helped us remain unbeaten at home for so long, so I don’t want to do any postmortem. But we can see what we can do to come out of such situations, and our batters should trust their plans.
“New Zealand batters also showed that if you put bowlers under pressure, things will happen in your favour,” Rohit concluded.
India will aim to salvage pride in the final Test of the series as they look to rebuild momentum for the challenges ahead.