IND vs NZ, 2nd Test: India captain Rohit lauds Washington; defends Jadeja, Ashwin despite loss against New Zealand

Rohit Sharma knows the sort of impact the Jadeja-Ashwin duo has on the team’s performance and keeping that in mind, he isn’t pondering too much about just one series.

Washington Sundar celebrates with captain Rohit Sharma after taking a wicket against New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association ( MCA ) stadium at Pune. | Photo Credit: K. Bhagya Prakash/The Hindu

It hasn’t been a Test series to remember for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as the duo could claim only six wickets each as India lost its first series at home since 2012.

However, captain Rohit Sharma defended the tweakers.

“There is too much expectation on those two guys. 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,” Rohit said on Saturday after India suffered a 113-run defeat in the second Test against New Zealand.

“It’s the responsibility of all of us to make sure that we get Test wins, not just the two guys. Of course, by their standard, 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. These two have played a major role in that…,” the captain added.

Having played a lot of cricket together, Rohit knows the sort of impact the duo has on the team’s performance and keeping that in mind, he isn’t pondering too much about just one series, where they looked off-colour.

“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 added.

While Ashwin and Jadeja struggled, Washington Sundar claimed 11 wickets in the game - seven in the first innings and four in the second. Rohit lauded the youngster but also stressed on the fact that everyone should step up.

“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. 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 or Kuldeep or Aksar, those guys. So it has to be shared amongst everyone,” he said.

“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…”

New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner made the most of the conditions in Pune and claimed 13 wickets in the game.

“That is something that we had to exploit a lot more as a bowling unit to try and make them play as many as possible and pitch it more on the stumps,” Rohit said.

“Those are the things that we will sit and discuss and we will go through it and see where they are at with that. But again, we are talking about someone who is taking 500 wickets and 300 wickets respectively.

“So they know exactly how they have gotten those wickets and how they have every time come out and won Test matches for us,” the captain said, backing Ashwin and Jadeja.

“So it is very hard on them to just have that expectation every time that they turn up that they need to take wickets for us. It can happen, it can happen that things won’t work out for them but that is the time when others need to step in and take that extra responsibility…”