Rohit says cannot just rely on Ashwin, Jadeja

India’s skipper Rohit Sharma said undue expectation was being put on frontline spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, as he called for more collective bowling efforts to win Test matches.

Ashwin and Jadeja had played key roles in helping India win 18 successive home series since 2012 but could not prevent New Zealand from snapping that record, claiming only eight wickets together in the second game where the pitch assisted spin.

“There’s too much expectation on those two guys. Every game they play, they are expected to take wickets, they are expected to run through the team and they are expected to win Tests,” Rohit said.

“I don’t think that’s fair, it’s the responsibility of all of us to make sure we get Test wins, not just the two guys. 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,” he added.

Indian batters had no answer for Santner

Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull attributed India’s shocking series defeat to their batsmen’s inadequacies against spin bowling. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner grabbed 13 wickets in the second Test. “There’s a misconception that Indian players are better players of spin. I think they’ve had better spinners and they’ve been able to expose the opposition batters. But in this Test, their batters were exposed a little bit by a very good performance from Mitchell Santner,” Doull said. “I think you get used to playing on such good wickets. And when it does turn, techniques get exposed a little bit. For a long time, when India played on turning surfaces, they still had the best spinners in the world in Jadeja and Ashwin. So, they’ve been able to undo other sides. In this Test match, they were undone by a New Zealand side that, with all due respect, is not a world-class spin bowling attack. So, that will be a concern of some sort,” he said.