Former Indian national cricket team batsman Sanjay Manjrekar criticized captain Rohit Sharma for his captaincy mistake in the first match of the Test series against the New Zealand national cricket team at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru .

The hosts faced a shocking 8-wicket defeat at the hands of Tom Latham & Co. to go down 0-1 in the ongoing three-match Test series.

Rohit Sharma overtakes Virat Kohli on the unwanted list

New Zealand’s victory over India in Test cricket was their third overall and first since 1988. It was Rohit Sharma’s third defeat as skipper in Test cricket at home and overtook Virat Kohli in an unwanted list of Indian captains with most defeats in home Tests.

One of the greatest captains in the history of Indian cricket, Kohli lost only two Test matches at home during his successful tenure as captain.

Meanwhile, the loss against the BlackCaps was Rohit’s third loss in Test cricket at home. With this, he surpassed Kohli and equaled the record of MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Bishan Singh Bedi as they also had a similar number of losses in home Tests.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi faced the most (nine) Test defeats as Indian captain at home, and Kapil Dev, along with Mohammad Azharuddin, is second with four defeats.

I was a little surprised, I think tactically for Rohit Sharma, this Test match was not the best – Sanjay Manjrekar

Speaking after the match on ESPNcricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar shared his opinion on Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Notably, Rohit Sharma started his pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj as New Zealand chased 107 runs on the final day.

Bumrah bowled an extended spell and got two wickets but Siraj could not make any breakthrough. Also, Rohit did not bring Ravichandran Ashwin early and only brought him in when 10 runs were needed to defend.

This act of Rohit Sharma did not go down well with Sanjay Manjrekar. The former India batsman felt that Rohit was not very good tactically in the Bengaluru Test and made a mistake by letting Siraj bowl for a long period without picking wickets. Sanjay Manjrekar stated:

“The thing about pacers is that you might get wickets but there are always runs that come through the edges. I was a bit surprised, I think tactically for Rohit Sharma, this Test match was not the best. I can understand Siraj getting one or two overs and Bumrah getting a long spell, but Siraj getting 6 overs in that forecast, I think it’s too many and there are already a lot of runs on the board, and you had that little margin to chase.”

Would have been tough on Kiwi batsmen: Sanjay Manjrekar on Ravichandran Ashwin

Manjrekar further said that veteran Ravichandran Ashwin would have made a significant impact on the match by troubling the Kiwi batsmen, had he started Bumrah instead of Siraj.

“And another part is Aswhin. When there are no generous changes in the field, the captain tends to use him with a new ball. It would have been difficult for the New Zealand batsmen if he had started with Bumrah, and even if he had come in, in the fourth over of the entrance,” added Manjrekar.

Meanwhile, Men In Blue and BlackCaps are all set to play the second Test match starting Thursday, October 24 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

Also Read: Rohit Sharma breaks silence on Sarfaraz Khan vs KL Rahul debate after latter’s flop against New Zealand