Rohit Sharma has defended two of India's biggest match-winners in Test cricket after losing the series-deciding contest against New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune.
India's spin twins Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have received a lot of criticism following the series loss to the Blackcaps in Pune. Both players failed to deliver impactful performances in the Test match, with Jadeja bagging just three and Ashwin claiming five scalps.
However, the India captain has thrown his weight behind both players and defended them by saying that winning matches is a collective responsibility.
"I mean, see look, there is too much expectation on those two guys," Rohit said in defence of Ashwin and Jadeja during the post-match press conference. "Every game they play, they are expected to take wickets, they are expected to run through the team, and they are expected to win Test matches for us. I don't think that's fair, it's the responsibility of all of us to make sure that we get Test match wins, not just the two guys."
Jadeja proved ineffective on a surface where his counterpart Mitchell Santner made life almost impossible for the India batters. India's slow left-arm orthodox bowler went wicketless in the first innings and bagged three wickets in the second innings after conceding 72 runs.
On the other hand, Ashwin had a slightly better game, snaring 3/64 in the first and 2/97 in the second innings. However, it was still nowhere close to his standards.
"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," Rohit added. "But again, 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 am not going to look into too much, especially with those two guys.
"They know exactly what happens and sometimes they are allowed to have some bad games here and there and not go by that expectation that this is the opportunity for me to take wickets and run through the opposition. That's not going to happen every time. So you got to be ready with the other guys also to step in."
The India captain also emphasised that taking wickets is a collective responsibility and everyone who is part of the bowling attack is expected to chip in to share the workload.
"Like we keep talking about with the batters it is not the responsibility of a few individuals, it is the collective batting unit that needs to come together," Rohit mentioned. "So it's the same with the bowling unit as well. If Ash doesn't do well, it's Jadeja who needs to come to the party or Washy (Washington Sundar) or Kuldeep (Yadav) or Axar (Patel), those guys."
