Captain Rohit Sharma didn’t hide behind excuses and admitted that India’s forgettable 0-3 whitewash to New Zealand will be “a very low point” in his career.

That aside, India have also slipped to No.2 in the World Test Championship rankings with 58.33 percentage points, while Australia (62.50 percentage points) moved atop.

“Definitely, something like this will be a very low point in my career, having lost three games at home,” Rohit said at the post-match news conference after India lost the third and final Test in Mumbai by 25 runs. “And yes, I fully take responsibility for that as a captain and as a leader.

“I have not been at the best of my abilities right from the start of the series. And yeah, with the bat as well, I’ve not been good enough.

“I made a decision about batting first on that Bangalore pitch, which was not right and (made) certain tactical errors also. You obviously take chances with those decisions. Sometimes they come off. Sometimes they don’t. This time around, they didn’t come off. So, yeah, I was not at my best in terms of leadership. That probably cost us the series as well.”

Rohit also acknowledged the lack of runs of both Virat Kohli and him is a cause for concern. “Obviously, it’s a cause for concern without a doubt.

“If the batters are not performing, that is a cause for concern. But what’s done is done now. I think as a player, as a captain, as a team, we all have to look forward and see how we can correct what we didn’t manage to achieve here.

“There is a good opportunity for us to go and do something really, really special in Australia,” he said.

Talking about the seemingly unnecessary pull shot off Matt Henry which cost him his wicket during the tricky run chase, Rohit said: “Look, when you’re chasing a target like that, you want runs on the board as well. That is something that was there in my mind.

“It just didn’t come off. When it doesn’t come off, it doesn’t look that great.

“There are certain ideas and certain methods that I go in to bat with. Sometimes they don’t come off and in this series, it hasn’t come off, which I am very disappointed with.”

Despite the whitewash, there were still a few positives for India in this series in the form of Washington Sundar performing with both ball and bat, while Rishabh Pant proved again his ability to thrive in pressure situations. “Those guys showed how to bat on these surfaces.

“You have to be slightly ahead and be proactive when you’re playing on a pitch like that,” the skipper said.

Looking ahead to the tour of Australia, where Rohit is likely to miss the opening Test in Perth from November 22 (owing to personal reasons), it will be important for India to focus on one Test at a time in a long series.

“We made a lot of mistakes, so I think those need to be addressed. Then moving forward, landing in Australia, it’s important to just focus on that particular series and the first Test.

“It’s a five-Test series, so it’s important to focus on one Test at a time and then just take it from there,” Rohit explained.