Rohit praises Sarfaraz and Pant for their maturity

Rohit Sharma praised the maturity shown by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan in the first Test in Bengaluru against New Zealand, where their 177-run stand on the fourth day gave India hope of a comeback despite a disastrous collapse in the first innings.

India were bowled out for 46 on the second day – their lowest Test score at home – and ultimately lost the game by eight wickets. But thanks to Sarfaraz's 150 and Pant's 99, they were able to overcome the deficit of 356.

“When these two bat, everyone is excited because they love playing the game that brought them success,” Rohit told the channel after the game. “You have seen it over time with Rishabh, the way he bats obviously takes some risks but I thought it was a very mature innings. (He) defended good balls, missed few balls and then again.” He encouraged himself to play those shots and that's what he's all about.

“Not to forget Sarfaraz. Sarfaraz too was only playing in his third or fourth Test match (fourth) to show that kind of maturity (was great) and (he was) very clear in his mind what kind of shots he was going to take.” If you have a clear mind , you are in a good place.

Their 177-run stand was due to India being bowled out in difficult conditions in the first session of play, followed by the New Zealand batsmen scoring 4.39 in just over 90 overs to take advantage. But Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal put up a 72-run stand that laid the foundation for erasing the deficit just three wickets later.

While they suffered a collapse against the second new ball that ultimately resulted in defeat, Rohit was happy with the determination shown by India's top five batters despite having their backs against the wall.

“When you are 350 (356) runs behind, you can’t think much about it. You just have to try to hit the ball, it's that simple. That was the plan. We wanted to hit and see where the ball was.” It was really exciting to see some big partnerships that got us back into the game. When you're 350 points behind, it could easily have happened that we could have gotten into the game. I have bowled before and even scored 350. It was a great performance with the bat and something we are very proud of as a team.”

More to follow …