Onus of series loss down to seniors: Karthik; Manjrekar defends Gambhir

NEW DELHI: Former wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik believes the onus for the Test series loss to New Zealand rests with the senior Indian players, while former batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels it would be unfair to place the blame on coach Gautam Gambhir.

India lost the second Test to New Zealand by 113 runs in Pune on Saturday as the Black Caps took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series. With this, India's proud run of 18 consecutive series wins at home since losing to England in 2012-13 ended.

Throughout the two matches, the senior players underperformed. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggled with the bat, while the formidable spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja also failed to make a significant impact.

"Yeah. Why shouldn't it (the onus of the series loss) be the senior players? They will look at themselves and say, 'What could we have done better?' I don't think they have run away from it," Karthik said on 'Cricbuzz'.

"If you can celebrate the highs and the fans enjoy how important they are, when the team wins, then when the losses happen, and the brick bats are thrown at you I think they will have the courage to face it," he added.

Karthik said the seniors themselves will take responsibility for the defeat, acknowledging that they did not have their best series.

"If you go and ask each one of them personally, what they think of the series I don't think they'll have great things to say about how the whole team played, and it is only but fair to ask them questions about what can be done better for future of Test cricket in India and for Indian Test cricket.

"So, knowing them personally, and I do know each one of them personally. They will say that they didn't have the best series. The question then becomes what do they need to do to get better and it is a very very current question to ask," he detailed.

New head coach Gautam Gambhir has also come in the line of fire after India erred tactically and experienced repeated batting collapses in the two Tests but Manjrekar backed the former opener.

"I will still maintain that the coach has the minimal influence on a team, lesser than your 11th weakest player. He does not set foot on the ground, the captain is in-charge out there.

"But you have to applaud him for Washington Sundar's selection, which was an immediate hit," Manjrekar told 'ESPNcricinfo'.

"But the move to send Washington ahead of Sarfaraz Khan or maybe four spinners here would have made more sense. But to put any kind of responsibility on the door of Gautam Gambhir would be terribly unfair because until now we can't do it because in cricket, a coach has minimal influence on performances," he added.

Rohit should come out of the T20 thinking of match ups

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Manjrekar questioned Rohit's "bizarre" decision to send all-rounder Washington to bat ahead of in-form Sarfaraz.

"The move to have Sarfaraz Khan bat down the order and sending Washington Sundar above him because he is a left-hander, those kind of things shouldn't happen.

"It's just bizarre. That's one thing that Rohit Sharma needs to be careful of...the T20 thinking of match ups left hand-right hand combinations. I think he should just go by the overall quality and ability of players." Manjrekar said.

When India needed its experienced batters to lead, Rohit could manage a total of 60 runs across four innings (2, 52; 0,8) while Kohli was a touch better collecting 88 runs (0,70; 1,17).

Highlighting Kohli's absence in the domestic circuit, former India captain Anil Kumble felt the talismanic batter could have prepared well for the long Test calendar by making himself available for the domestic matches.

"Perhaps just one or two innings in a match situation could have helped. Being in an actual game is definitely more beneficial than just practice; it gives an upper hand," Kumble said on 'Jio Cinema'.

"If he feels that playing earlier would have benefited him, and the team management agrees, then maybe it would have," he added.