Ashwin (L) and Jadeja (Source: BCCI) Photograph:( Others )
India lost their first ever Test series at home against the Kiwis after they lost the second Test on a spinning pitch in Pune on Saturday (Oct 26).
India skipper Rohit Sharma says that he isn't going to read too much into the performance of Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja in the two lost Tests against New Zealand but insisted that they knew what they haven't been able to do.
India lost their first ever Test series at home against the Kiwis after they lost the second Test on a spinning pitch in Pune on Saturday (Oct 26). Both the spinners were not up to the mark and failed to create pressure most of the time.
"I mean, see, look, there is too much expectation on those two guys," Rohit said of Ashwin and Jadeja after the loss in Pune.
"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," he added.
Rohit also said that the duo has been incredible over a decade or so and played a huge role in India's winning streak, which started in 2012 until New Zealand stopped it.
"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 said. "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," said the skipper.
After the two losses, India have their work cut down to make it to their third consecutive World Test Championship (WTC) final as they need to win at least four of their remaining six Tests, with five of them being in Australia.