New Delhi: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma blamed India’s failure to grab the opportunities for the crushing loss in the Boxing Day Test against Australia on Monday. India lost the fourth Test by 184 runs after a dramatic batting collapse led to another humbling defeat under the captaincy of Rohit.
Rohit termed the defeat as “mentally disturbing” and lamented his team’s lack of fight in the Boxing Day Test. The impressive win put Australia 2-1 up in the series and increased their chances of reaching their second successive World Test Championship final.
India will now head to Sydney for the fifth and final Test in a must-win situation.
“It is mentally disturbing when you can’t do what you have come to do,” Rohit told reporters after the loss.
Rohit laments lack of fight
Rohit lamented the lack of fight from his players, who failed to fight till the end and were unable to find ways to win the game.
India fail to capitalise on some great opportunities which, in the end, cost them the game. The home side was struggling at 90 for six in their second innings with the overall lead yet to touch 200 on Sunday but a last-wicket stand of 61 runs took the overall lead to 339 and helped Australia set to 340-run target for the visitors.
Rohit said that the team was unable to exploit the favourable situation.
“We threw everything we had”
“We had Australia 90 for 6. We know things can get tough, but we want to play tough cricket from hard situations. But we were not good enough. I went back to my room and thought about what else we could have done as a team,” Rohit said.
“But we threw everything we had, they fought hard, especially that last-wicket partnership, which probably cost us the game there,” he added.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (84 off 208 balls) was the lone warrior for India with the bat, scoring twin centuries in the match. Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant (30 off 104) batted out the entire second session and raised India’s hopes of a draw. But Pant’s wicket early in the third session triggered a dramatic collapse, which saw India losing their last seven wickets for just 34 runs.
Rohit said that the 84-run stand set a perfect platform for India to go for a win in the last session but praised the Australian bowlers for a sensational display.
The Indian skipper hailed Nitish Reddy for scoring a superb century in the first innings and hoped for a bright future for the youngster. Rohit, who is himself struggling for form with the bat, also lauded pacer Jasprit Bumrah for singlehandedly spearheading the Indian bowling attack.
Chasing 340 on the final day, India were bowled out for 155 in 79.1 overs. The loss put a huge dent in India’s chances of reaching the World Test Championship final.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma termed the Boxing Day Test defeat as “mentally disturbing” and lamented his team’s lack of fight in at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
