What did you think about when you chose to bat first, why didn't you give a chance to Akash Deep… Watch the video, Rohit Sharma answered all the questions.

Cricket News Desk. Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted that he was 'saddened' to see the team being bowled out for just 46 runs on the second day of the first Test against New Zealand. After the first day's play was canceled due to rain, Rohit won the toss and decided to bat on the second day. India's innings was limited to 31.2 overs and five batsmen could not even open their account. After the second day's play, Rohit took full responsibility for this minimum score and said, 'As a captain, I am sad to see the score of 46 runs because it was my decision to bat first. But every year one or two wrong decisions are made.

Earlier, the minimum Test score of the Indian team was 75 runs against West Indies in Delhi in 1987. Rohit admitted that his team is not worthy of the challenge of New Zealand's fast bowlers. He said, 'We could not respond well to the challenge that was before us. Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes not. This time I was not on the right side. Today was a very bad day for us. But we have played many such matches before also. But we must challenge ourselves as much as possible.

On why he decided to bat despite the sky being cloudy before the toss, he said, 'We thought there was no grass on the pitch. We thought he would do his job in the first few sessions and then play innings. Whenever we play in India the first session is always important and then the wicket starts improving after which the spinners start playing.

On the reasoning behind replacing fast bowler Akashdeep with left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav despite the clouds, Rohit said, 'As I said, there was not much grass on the pitch. So the reason for Kuldeep's inclusion was that he has taken wickets on flat pitches. So we expected that the pitch would become a little flat but it did not happen.

Shubman Gill, who batted at number three for India, had to sit out of this match due to a stiff neck, so Virat Kohli came to bat at this position after eight years. Rohit said that it was Kohli's decision to bat in this order. He said, 'Only experienced players will have to take additional responsibility. This is a good sign. This time Virat did this. He was ready to do so. We asked him if he could bat at number three.

He said, 'We wanted to feed Sarfaraz here. He usually bats at number four, fifth or sixth. But we did not want to replace Rishabh and KL. That's why Sarfaraz came to bat at number four and Virat came at number three. He said, 'They play in such conditions on home ground. They know what to do when the situation arises. Their bowlers challenged our batsmen.