Rohit Sharma After NZ Defeat: 'Ashwin, Jadeja are allowed bad games'

With his flawless performance in the second Test match against New Zealand in Pune, Washington Sundar spearheaded the spin attack. Playing a red-ball international after nearly three years, the spinning all-rounder took 11 wickets in the match. On the other hand, the seasoned spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja struggled with the ball and could not take wickets consistently.

India's captain Rohit Sharma and the team have been under intense scrutiny after losing to New Zealand in the Test series for the second time in a row. This is New Zealand's first home series victory in India in the longest format and India's first Test series loss in 12 years. The media asked Rohit a lot of questions about the team's poor performance, with particular attention going to the two seasoned bowlers in the Indian team, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who did not play well in the second Test.

Rohit Sharma backs Jadeja and Ashwin:

Mitchell Santner took 13 wickets for New Zealand on a ground that gave the turners plenty of spin. On the other hand, Jadeja took three wickets while Ashwin took five. Regarding the pair, Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, said that spinners are overworked. Additionally, he joked that expecting them to plan a victory on their own would be "unfair."

Rohit Sharma stated that, as quoted by The Daily Star, "There's 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 matches. I don't think that's fair, it's the responsibility of all of us to make sure we get Test wins, not just the two guys. 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."

He further added, "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'm not going to look into too much, especially with those two guys... Sometimes they're allowed to have bad games here and there, and not go by the expectation that this is the opportunity to run through the opposition. That's not going to happen every time. So you've got to be ready with the other guys to step in."

Rohit Sharma said "Jadeja & Ashwin know it. Every game they play, they are expected to help us win but that's not fair. They know what they have done & what the expectations are. They both have had huge role in our run of 12 years. Sometimes they are allowed to have some bad… pic.twitter.com/ut0ppdMQo2

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 26, 2024

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