Team India captain Rohit Sharma admitted to misreading the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru after his decision to bat first didn’t work for them on Day 2 of the first Test against New Zealand as well. The Indian Team were bowled out for a mere 46 runs whereas New Zealand scored 180-3 in 50 overs before stumps as well.

“We thought it wouldn’t help the seamers much after the first session or so. There wasn’t much grass either. We expected it to be much flatter than it turned out to be. It was a misjudgment on my part, and I couldn’t read the pitch well,” Rohit Sharma said during the press conference after Day 1. “On a pitch where there was assistance for the seamers, and now that we were bowled out for 46, you could say the shot selection wasn’t up to the mark. Sometimes you plan to do something but fail to execute. So, it was a bad day for us.”

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Meanwhile, another surprising decision from the thinktank came when they backed KL Rahul despite his poor show in recent times. In the absence of Shubman Gill, India needed a proper No.3 batter, and Rahul who has batted in the position well in the top order in the past was backed to do the job as well.

“We don’t want to touch KL’s batting position much. He has found a place at 6, so let’s give him a rope there. Same with Sarfaraz, we wanted to give him a similar position to where he bats because he is new to international cricket as well. So Virat was the one who wanted to take responsibility. We had a discussion, and he was fine with it. That’s a good sign that players are taking responsibility,” Rohit Sharma concluded.