That India couldn’t even bat 90 overs in the entire Adelaide Test was one reason behind their heavy defeat alongside slipping to No.3 in the World Test Championship (WTC) rankings with 57.29 percentage points.

Skipper Rohit Sharma was right in his analysis of the batting group failing to deliver, as bowlers can’t always bail their side out. India could bat only 81 overs across both innings at the Adelaide Oval that made the task simpler for Australia, who too had problems to deal following their 295-run loss in the series opener in Perth.

“When you come to Australia, I feel the best chance of winning a Test is by putting runs on the board. We were 30-40 runs short with the bat in the first innings,” Rohit said at the news conference after India’s 10-wicket loss.

“And then there were opportunities when Australia were batting and we failed to take those chances (by dropping catches). And obviously, when you miss those chances, it’s never easy and it’s not going to be easy. The opposition will always make you pay for it and that’s what happened.

“Then in the second innings as well, we thought the conditions were better. But again, we were not good enough with the bat.

“Of course, in India too, we didn’t bat well enough. We accept that and we agree that when we play in India, we are trying to play in difficult conditions and that’s what we wanted. It’s not anyone else’s choice. It was our choice and we knew that the big-scoring games are not going to happen and that is something that has been the case over the last four or five years. And we accept that,” Rohit elaborated.

Bowling-wise too, spearhead Jasprit Bumrah didn’t get much support from either of the two fellow quicks, Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana. Though Siraj managed to bowl well in certain phases, Harshit was disappointing as he conceded 86 off his 16 overs and went wicketless.

Though this was just the second Test appearance for Harshit, who looked quite promising on debut in Perth, India still need to be careful about their selection for the third Test in Brisbane, particularly as the WTC points are at stake. Will the team management think of letting Akash Deep have a go at the Australians at the Gabba game beginning next Saturday?

That remains to be seen. After all, Akash has greater red-ball experience than Harshit and should enjoy bowling in Australian conditions.

Agreeing that the other bowlers too need to take up responsibility as “Bumrah cannot bowl from both ends”, Rohit also had his support for young Harshit. “He did well in Perth, but it happens... Sometimes the team doesn’t get what it wants.

“But he has the heart and passion, so we should back such qualities. However, we always keep options open for any player to play since we have to win a Test match. If we must make such changes to win a Test, we will do that,” Rohit said.