Rohit Sharma’s bold leadership is tested as one of India’s worst Test days unfolds in Bengaluru’s dramatic collapse

It is not often that an Indian captain walks into the press conference room in the middle of a Test match. Sourav Ganguly did it in Bulawayo in September 2005, but that was after he had scored a hundred against Zimbabwe and perhaps mostly because he was aware that questions about the friction between him and then coach Greg Chappell would allow him to present the his side history

Rohit Sharma doesn’t like pre-match or post-match press, so he volunteers to run the media after one of India’s worst Test days in what can be seen as a selfless act. Minutes after New Zealand had ended the second day of the first Test in Bangalore in supreme control after dismissing India for 46, their lowest score at home and the third-lowest of all time, and with 180 for three, the Indian captain raised his hand. , admitting that he had misjudged the playing surface at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

“We expected the playing field to be a bit flatter than it turned out to be,” he continued. “Sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you don’t. This time I was on the other (wrong) side. I’m a little bad because I made that call.” No hiding behind the “collective decision,” no sharing the blame. “We didn’t play well. Simple.”

Full marks to the boss for honesty and acceptance of responsibility. But could this whole exercise have been avoided?

without a doubt With a little more common sense, or even a more disciplined and intelligent batting screen.

A million eyebrows were raised when India decided to bat on the second morning – the entire first day had been wiped out. Logic seemed to dictate that with the surface having spent almost all of the last three days under wraps, there would be support, and plenty of it, for the faster bowlers. If any set of conditions called for bowling first, it was these.

But wait Tom Latham, the New Zealand captain, said he too would have batted first if he had chosen. “So it was a good toss to lose,” Matt Henry grinned like a Cheshire cat, reveling in a fourth five that took the Kiwi to 100 Test wickets.

The thing is, between the draw and the start of the game at 9.15am, the clouds gathered overhead, wrapping the sun in its cold embrace. But whether that alone changed the entire batting dynamic is debatable.

Rohit pointed to the absence of grass on the pitch, saying the challenge, if any, would be the first two sessions, after which the track would become very good for batting. Sounds good in theory, but in practice, India were bowled out in less than three hours and 31.2 overs. Through a combination of New Zealand’s industry and business, and their own mistrust and dodgy shot selection that led to many downfalls.

Kohli’s place

Shubman Gill’s absence would clearly have been taken into account by Rohit and Gautam Gambhir. In his last six Tests, the new No. 3 has three centuries and so his absence with the stiff neck was a big blow. Who would take the number 3 spot? Sarfaraz Khan, his replacement? KL Rahul, the long-time workhorse now finding his calling at No.6? Or Virat Kohli, the former skipper who had batted in this position six times before, with a maximum of 41?

Kohli quickly accepted the new challenge, but to no avail. He was out unmarked to a William O’Rourke lifter, as was Sarfaraz, playing an aggressive stroke too early in his innings and Devon Conway caught him sensationally right-handed at mid-off. Rahul intervened with a third duck, which wicketkeeper Tom Blundell brought down leg-side as his tendency to play with his upper body closed proved decisively disastrous.

Only Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant, among the most aggressive of an ultra-attacking line-up, showed grim application and determination. The rest came and went in a pitiful and unpleasant procession. It was the second time this year, after Cape Town in January, that five or more Indians were dismissed without scoring in a Test innings; it was also the first time since Mohali in 1999, also against New Zealand, that there were five ducks in a complete Indian innings at home. Truly damning numbers, even if they can sometimes be wished away as a single bad day in office.

India have done a million things right in recent years in Test cricket. The juxtaposition of a massive error of judgment and a terrible batting collapse on the same day certainly does not fall into that category.