Former Indian captain and batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday said India’s 3-0 defeat in the Test series against New Zealand on the home turf needs ‘introspection’.
He wrote on X: “Losing 3-0 at home is a tough pill to swallow, and it calls for introspection. Was it lack of preparation, was it poor shot selection, or was it lack of match practice?”
The Indian batting great said: “@ShubmanGill showed resilience in the first innings, and @RishabhPant17 was brilliant in both innings— his footwork made a challenging surface look like a different one altogether. He was simply superb.”
Lauding the visitors for their performance in India, considered as a tough bastion by foreign teams, Tendulkar said: “Full credit to New Zealand for their consistent performance throughout the series. Winning 3-0 in India is as good a result as it can get.”
Rohit Sharma says he was not at his best as skipper
Indian captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday said he was not in the best of his form as the captain to lead his squad against New Zealand in the three-match Test series.
He said he could not perform as a batsman as well.
Speaking during the presentation ceremony, Sharma said: “This was an unfortunate series where we tried certain things that did not come off. I was not at my best as captain in leading the team as well as with the bat. Collectively as a unit we failed to perform.”
He further said: “We didn’t play our best cricket. New Zealand played better throughout the series. There were a lot of mistakes we made.”
New Zealand’s dominant performance
New Zealand defeated India by 25 runs to complete a 3-0 clean sweep of the series, marking the tourist squad’s first victory in the subcontinent on Sunday.
India’s hope of winning the Test became high till Rishabh Pant (64) was batting but his dismissal ended all hopes for the hosts.
Apart from Pant, the rest of the Indian lineup failed to contribute much with the willow.
New Zealand is the fourth team apart from England, Australia and West Indies to beat India in the longest format of the game in a series featuring at least three Tests.
New Zealand’s first 3-0 win in the series set a tough situation for the hosts who are securing their position in the World Test Championship final.
India began the test on a dominant note by scoring 263 runs in reply to Kiwi’s first innings, which totalled 235.
In the second innings, Indian spinning duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and R Jadeja took three and five wickets to bowl out the opponent for 174.
Will Young remained the top scorer for New Zealand with his 51-run knock.
India faced a nightmare when their batting collapsed and lost five wickets with 29 runs on the scorecard.
Rohit Sharma (11), Yashasvi Jaiswal (5), Shubman Gill (1), Virat Kohli (1), and Sarfaraz Khan (1) failed with the willow on a day when India needed them to deliver.
Ajaz Patel took six wickets and Glenn Phillips scalped three to end the Indian innings which only shone when Pant tried to steady the innings with his 57-ball 64 runs knock.
This is the first time India lost a series by 3-0 margin on home soil in 90 years.
The last time India lost a home series was against England in 2012.
India faced a 2-0 whitewash against South Africa in 2000.
