India’s decision to bat first after winning the toss despite the Chinnaswamy pitch offering a fair amount of assistance to quicks early on was bizarre. And captain Rohit Sharma minced no words to admit he had misread the pitch and conditions.

Such an admission isn’t something seen in Indian cricket, especially in the last decade or so. So, what actually prompted the skipper to take such a call?

“We felt there was no grass on the pitch,” Rohit said at the news conference after the second day’s play in Bengaluru. “We thought it would do whatever it has to in the first couple of sessions and then it is going to turn.”

In other words, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Rohit took the blame primarily on
himself following India’s batting which put New Zealand in the driving seat in this opening Test.

“I am hurting a little bit because I made that call. We found ourselves in a situation where we got bowled out for 46. Being the captain, it definitely hurts to see that number,” a disconsolate Rohit said.

“So, clearly a misjudgement of the pitch. I did not read the pitch well enough and we sit in this situation. In 365 days, you will make two or three bad calls, though.”

He was also candid enough to acknowledge that his team failed to respond to the challenge posed by the New Zealand quicks. “We didn’t respond well to the challenge thrown to us. Today (Thursday) was a bad day for us. But we have played many such matches before, and we should challenge ourselves as much as we can,” Rohit said.

Asked about the rationale behind not playing pacer Akash Deep and going in with three spinners in such conditions, Rohit replied: “As I said, there was not much grass (on the pitch). So, the reason to add Kuldeep (Yadav) was because he is bold on flat pitches and has taken wickets.

“We expected the pitch to be a little flatter than what it turned out to be.”