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I am hurting a little bit because I made that call. As a captain, it definitely hurts to see that number: Rohit Sharma
"It was my misjudgement of the pitch," a hurting India skipper Rohit Sharma said on Thursday, taking full responsibility for the team's lowest ever innings total of 46 in a home Test that he is still hoping to save despite New Zealand's current domination.
New Zealand pacers Mark Henry and William O'Rourke shared nine wickets among them to skittle India for 46 on the second day of the first Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium after Rohit opted to bat first under overcast skies.
"I am hurting a little bit because I made that call. We found ourselves in a situation where we got bowled out for 46 runs. As a captain, it definitely hurts to see that number," said Rohit during the post-day press meet after New Zealand were comfortably placed at 180/3.
"So, clearly a misjudgement of the pitch. I did not read the pitch well enough and we sit in this situation. Though in 365 days, you will make two or three bad calls. That is absolutely fine, I guess," he rued.
Rohit was equally candid to admit that his side did not respond to the challenge offered by the Kiwis pacers.
"The challenge that was thrown at us, we didn't respond well. Sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you don't. I was on the other side of it this time around," he said.
"Today was a bad day for us. But we have played many such matches before. But we should challenge ourselves as much as we can," he asserted.
So, what prompted him to take the decision of taking the first strike even after seeing a canopy of grey clouds hanging over the venue ahead of the toss?
"We felt there was no grass on the pitch. We thought it will do whatever it has to do in the first couple of sessions and then it is going to take turn," he explained.
"Whenever we play in India, the first session is always critical and then the wicket tends to settle down and then the spinners come into play," he said.
Rohit also detailed the rationale behind replacing pacer Akash Deep with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav despite the overcast conditions.
"As I said, there was not much grass (on pitch). So, the reason to add Kuldeep was because he is bold on flat pitches and he has taken wickets. So, we expected the pitch to be a little flatter than what it turned out to be," he said.