Indian captain Rohit Sharma has come under heavy criticism following India’s loss to New Zealand in Bengaluru. Beating India in their own backyard is never easy as only a few teams have managed to do so, becoming only the third team after Australia and England to hand India a defeat in India since 2013.

On the 5th, Rohit’s decision to delay Ravichandran Ashwin’s entry remained a major topic of discussion, with a couple of former Indian players criticizing the move. Among them was Sanjay Manjrekar, who, on ESPNcricinfo, pointed out how Ashwin could have been effective with the new ball and that pacers are always prone to losing runs even if they take wickets.

“Yes (on whether he was surprised by Ashwin’s delay), and something I thought would happen because India have done it so often. I can understand maybe Siraj got one or two overs, I can understand Bumrah having a long spell, but Siraj bowled six overs in that first spell; There are too many, and there were already enough races on the board and then you had very little. room to chase. Ashwin – When there are no changes in the delivery or no generous changes in the delivery, captains tend to use him a lot more with the new ball, and it would have been difficult for the New Zealand batsmen if he had started with Bumrah, or even if he had come in and bowled the fourth over of the innings.”

“The problem with pace is that you may get wickets but there are always runs across the edges. Against the turn, against the spinners, they would have to take risks, and I was very surprised. I would also say that tactically maybe Rohit Sharma’s Test match was not the best.”

Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was definitely a bit of a surprise: Parthiv Patel

In the same vein, Parthiv Patel, former Indian wicketkeeper, also spoke about Ashwin’s late introduction into the attack. At Colors Cineplex, he termed Rohit’s captaincy as “surprising”.

“It was a little surprising because you want your main player to play as much as possible. In fact, we were discussing whether he would pitch with the new ball or not because he is even more effective with the new ball, especially when he pitches in the fourth innings. Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was definitely a bit of a surprise. When he (Ashwin) came to bowl two overs, he also beat the batsman two or three times. I feel when he (Rohit) looks back or goes to the press conference, he will definitely be asked why he didn’t bowl to Ravichandran Ashwin.”

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There could be several reasons for not taking Ashwin all the way, but the most sensible one seems to be his below-average performance in the first innings. He bowled 16 overs in the first dig and conceded as many as 94 runs at an economy of 5.90 while taking just a solitary wicket.

Rohit made some poor decisions throughout this game: he made a wrong decision at the toss, he delayed Bumrah’s innings during New Zealand’s first innings when Rachin Ravindra and Tim Southee formed a great partnership, he outplayed Bumrah and Siraj and he delayed Ashwin’s entry in the second over. dig. It will look to redeem itself and come up with a better strategy as India cannot afford any more setbacks in the sector.

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