NEWS
Follow UsWhile the Indian batters have borne the brunt of the shocking series defeat at home against New Zealand, the Indian spinners, known to be the team's trump card, were also out bowled by their Kiwi counterparts. However, Rohit Sharma and the team are unperturbed by a barren run for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, calling it a rare slip-up in the armoury of the two veteran spinners.
"I mean, see look, there is too much expectation on those two guys," Rohit said about Ashwin and Jadeja after the defeat in Pune. "Every game they play, they are expected to take wickets, they are expected to run through the team, and they are expected to win Test matches for us. I don't think that's fair, it's the responsibility of all of us to make sure that we get Test match wins, not just the two guys."
Ashwin had match figures of 1/100 in Bengaluru, his second-worst in a home Test. In Pune, Ashwin snapped the wickets of New Zealand’s top three on day one but couldn’t build on to it. In the second innings when India needed to bowl New Zealand out under 150 to have a realistic chance of winning the match, Ashwin went for 2/97. His series bowling average of 43.5 is the second-worst for him at home.
Do you want to guess when did he have his worst series in India? Well, it was the dreaded home series against England in 2012 where Ashwin conceded 52.6 runs per wicket. These are the only series India have lost at home with Ashwin in the side.
Meanwhile, Jadeja looked effective only in patches. He has six wickets in four innings this series and has gone wicketless twice.
"Of course, by their standards, they know where they stand and what they haven't been able to do or what they haven't done really well. But again, both of them have played so much cricket here and have such huge contributions to our success of having that home streak of 18 series wins. These two have played a major role in that. A couple of series, I am not going to look into too much, especially with those two guys.
“They know exactly what happens and sometimes they are allowed to have some bad games here and there and not go by that expectation that this is the opportunity for me to take wickets and run through the opposition. That's not going to happen every time. So you got to be ready with the other guys also to step in." Rohit said about this celebrated bowling pair.
"Like we keep talking about with the batters it is not the responsibility of a few individuals, it is the collective batting unit that needs to come together," Rohit said. "So it's the same with the bowling unit as well. If Ash doesn't do well, it's Jadeja who needs to come to the party or Washy [Washington Sundar] or Kuldeep [Yadav] or Axar [Patel], those guys,” the skipper added further on reducing the pressure on Ashwin and Jadeja.
Washington Sundar, meanwhile, was the saving grace for India. Coming into the team, Sundar registered his best match figures and innings bowling figures in Tests. The off-spinner picked 7/59 in the first innings and 4/56 in the second, keeping the hosts alive in the game.
"Washy had a great game, I am really proud of that. He is proud of that and we are happy with his performance. He bowled so well,” Rohit reflected on Sundar’s bowling performance.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.
