India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, made some poor decisions during the first Test match against New Zealand in Bengaluru. At the start, Rohit made a mistake by choosing to bat first on a difficult pitch with cloudy weather. He also let the New Zealand batters get comfortable and build partnerships. By the end of the first session, the Kiwis had a 299-run lead. Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar criticized Rohit’s leadership on social media, pointing out a major flaw in his captaincy by comparing it to MS Dhoni’s style.
India appeared to be getting back into the game after dismissing Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, and Matt Henry early on Day 3. However, Rachin Ravindra and Tim Southee then formed an unbeaten partnership of 112 runs from 97 balls for the 8th wicket.
As Rohit’s frustration became obvious, Manjrekar mentioned that Rohit should learn a leadership skill that Dhoni had a lot of.
“Dhoni had a special talent for predicting when to change the bowler before things got out of hand. Rohit needs to add that skill to his leadership,” Manjrekar posted on X (formerly Twitter).
After the second day’s play ended, Rohit told the press that he was responsible for India’s current situation.
“We thought the pitch wouldn’t help the fast bowlers much after the first session. There wasn’t much grass on it. We expected it to be flatter than it was. It was a mistake on my part, and I didn’t read the pitch well. I’m upset to see our score of 46 as the captain because I decided to bat first. But it’s okay to make one or two bad decisions in a year,” Rohit admitted.
