MELBOURNE! Indian skipper Rohit Sharma on Monday said the 184-run defeat to Australia in the fourth Test was “mentally disturbing” as he admitted his team failed to put up a fight in the match. India are now trailing 1-2 in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy and will travel to Sydney for the fifth and final Test.The final of the series will begin on January 3. Rohit, whose own poor form has come under question, told reporters after the match, “When you are not able to do what you have come to do, it is mentally disturbing.”
He said in the prize distribution ceremony after the match, “It is very disappointing. There are many ways to win the match and we failed to find ways to win the match here. We wanted to fight till the end and unfortunately we could not do that.” Australia was struggling on 90 runs for six wickets in its second innings on Sunday and its total lead had not yet reached 200, but the visiting team was successful in setting a target of 340 runs. Rohit admitted that his team could not take advantage of the favorable situation.
Australia had lost 6 wickets for 90 runs. We know that the conditions can be difficult, but we want to play tough cricket in difficult conditions. But we were not that good. I went back to my room and thought what more we could have done as a team,” Rohit said. “But we gave it our all, they fought hard, especially the last wicket partnership, which probably cost us the match,” he said. Rohit said the team wanted to chase the target, even if it was a difficult one. “
We knew 340 was not going to be easy. We tried to build a platform and save wickets in the last two sessions, but they also bowled brilliantly. We wanted to chase the target, but we couldn’t build a platform from our end,” he said. The Mumbaikar praised Nitish Kumar Reddy for scoring a brilliant century in the first innings and hoped the youngster would do well going forward. “He is coming here for the first time, the conditions can be really tough here, but he showed great character and solid technique.
“He has everything to succeed at this level, I hope he gets better and better, and he has got full support from the team as well,” he said. The 37-year-old also praised pacer Jasprit Bumrah for single-handedly leading the Indian bowling attack. “Absolutely fantastic, we have been watching him for so many years, coming here and getting the job done. He is not a statistics guy. “He just wants to play for the country and does well for the team, but unfortunately he hasn’t got much support from the other side,” he added.
