New Zealand vs India: 3 decisions by Rohit that cost India the T20I series
India's ten series' unbeaten streak came to an end today when New Zealand beat India 2-1 and took the T20I series. India was outplayed in the first T20I but, made a strong comeback in the second game to equal the series. Today, they had a golden opportunity to win their first ever T20I series on New Zealand soil, but again were let down by the bowlers by conceding 200 runs yet again in this series.
This made life difficult for the batters, who tried hard. India lost the close encounter by four runs. Stand-in captain Rohit Sharma had a great start to his captaincy career, and India had never lost a series under his leadership. But today, his winning streak also came to an end.
This is also the first time India lost a T20I series decider. Rohit knows taking good decisions as a leader, but there were a few decisions made under his captaincy which might have cost India the series. Let's have a look at three such decisions.
#1 Not utilizing Vijay Shankar as a bowler
The Tamil Nadu all-rounder came to the team as a batting all-rounder. He doesn't have a great bowling record on the domestic circuit but is a decent medium pace bowler. Rohit played him in all the three matches in this series, but as a proper batsman.
One can understand that if the other five bowlers had bowled exceptionally, then there was no need for Vijay Shankar to pitch in. But it wasn't the case in first and final T20I, as India conceded over 200 runs in these two games. Rohit could have tried using Shankar, which might have brought some changes to the results.