Following their historic victory in the Test series on October 26, New Zealand captain Tom Latham came out in defence of India captain Rohit Sharma, who has been facing a lot of backlash from fans across the globe. Latham stated during the press conference held after the game that India did not suddenly turn into a weak team. New Zealand took an unstoppable lead in the three-match Test series after crushing India by 113 runs in Pune. With six Test matches remaining, the defeat puts India in jeopardy of missing out on a final position in the World Test Championship.
During the post-match press conference, India captain Rohit Sharma was subjected to some challenging questions. Sharma stated that the team was permitted to have occasional off days and that India should not respond hastily. When the Indian captain told the media that they are allowed to lose one series in a 12-year span, he received a lot of backlash.
Latham comes out in defence of Rohit
Latham defended Rohit during the press conference and stated that they anticipated India to perform at their peak in the third Test match of the series, which will begin in Mumbai on November 1. Latham went on to say that although the game moved along rather swiftly on Day 3, New Zealand anticipated that the hosts would put them in a tight place.
"The way that (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and Rohit (Sharma) and Shubman (Gill) came out and played, they certainly put us under pressure and we knew it was going to be a hard slog to get all 10 wickets,” he said.
"It was nice that it unfolded really quickly but look, India are a quality side, they don't become a bad team overnight or a bad team after a couple of games. They've got many match winners from 1 to 15 in their squad and sometimes it's the game we play, sometimes you can fall on the wrong side even if you play well. We'll certainly expect them to be at their best in Mumbai and the guys will be looking forward to that challenge," said Latham about the Indian team.
Latham on his team's historic win
When questioned about the team's historic accomplishment, the captain was at a loss for words. In their seven decades of touring India, New Zealand has never returned home with a series win before this.
"I'm sort of lost for words a little bit. It's obviously an immensely proud moment for this group. We're immensely proud to be in the position of winning two Test matches here. A lot of New Zealand teams have come here over the past 69 years, I think it is, and in 13 series, to be the first team to win a series over here is immensely special," Latham said.
