‘Every time we play in India…’ – Rohit Sharma lambast reporters after India lose 3rd BGT Test Vs Australia at Indore

In the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Indore, when Australia pulled off a comeback with a nine-wicket victory, the pitch was questioned once more. On day three, the visitors successfully chased down a total of 76 runs in 19 overs, ending the match in two days and one session.

During the press conference, team India skipper Rohit Sharma was not happy with the reporters as they didn’t give credit to the players, but instead said that the main reason behind the loss was the pitch. To this, the captain questioned why people in India questioned so often about the pitches. He believed people should talk about how Cheteshwar Pujara and Usman Khawaja batted or how Nathan Lyon bowled.

“This pitch talk is getting just a bit too much. Every time we play in India, there’s only focus on the pitch. Why are people not asking me about Nathan Lyon? How well he bowled. How well Pujara batted in the second innings. How well Usman Khawaja played,” Rohit was quoted as saying in the post-match press conference.

We were not able to do that: Rohit Sharma

“Before any series is played, we decide on what kind of surface we all want to play. It was our mutual decision that we wanted to play on these kinds of wickets. So I don’t think we’re putting pressure on our batters,” the Mumbai franchise skipper added.

India was bowled out for 109 in the first innings after winning the toss and choosing to bat first. Australia had established an 88-run lead at the end of the first innings. Despite a fifty from Pujara, the home team’s top order was bundled out at 163 in the second innings. They set a target of 76 for Australia, which they chased down with nine wickets to spare.

“Obviously we didn’t bat well in the first innings and we understand how important it is to put runs on the board,” Rohit said post-match. Once they got a 80-90 run lead, we had to produce another innings with the bat and we were not able to do that. If we had batted well in the first innings then things would have been different.” the 35-year-old asserted.