Rohit Sharma on Pune's loss to New Zealand – “We didn't score enough runs in the first innings”

“I don’t think we batted well enough to score runs,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. “If you want to win Test matches, of course you have to have 20 wickets, yes, but the batters also have to have runs on the board.”

“We didn't put enough runs on the board in the first innings and then we were behind in the game – 100 (103) runs leading to New Zealand and obviously from then on it was a great fightback from us to limit ourselves.” They got a rate of around 250 (255 in the second innings) but then again we knew it would be a bit of a challenge but we gave it our best.

“We assumed we could pursue this goal, but again, continued pressure from both sides resulted in our inability to respond to these challenges.”

Given the nature of the pitch, there was a feeling that India had allowed New Zealand to score too many runs on the first day of the Test, but Rohit felt his bowlers had done a good job in restricting them to 259.

“No, not really (too many runs),” he said. “To be honest, when they started they were at 200 (197) for 3 and then it was a big effort for us to bowl them out for 259. We just didn't bat well enough given that score in the first Had the innings been closer, the outcome would have been slightly different, but again New Zealand played better.

After defeats in Bengaluru and Pune, where India went down 2-0, they go into the third Test in Mumbai under pressure to avoid their first-ever defeat in a home series of three or more Tests. There is also pressure to win enough points in this Test match and the subsequent five-match series in Australia to ensure India stays in the race for next year's World Test Championship final, but for now Rohit said that they only focused on the immediate task in hand.

“We want to do well in Wankhede and try to win the Test match,” he said. “Don’t think too far ahead. It's important that we focus on our next game and what we can do better as a unit because it's a collective failure. I am not one to blame only the batters or bowlers. This is the team.” has failed to take on the challenge presented to us, it’s that simple. We will emerge at Wankhede with better intentions, better ideas and better methods.”