'You are born and brought up on these wickets...': Rohit Sharma slams India batters after stunning series loss

India's winning run in ODI series at home came to an end with their 21-run loss to Australia on Wednesday. The three-match series was tied 1-1 before the match in Chennai and India's failure to chase down a target of 270 meant that they lost an ODI series at home for the first time since March 2019.

Captain Rohit Sharma felt that it was underwhelming batting performance from the hosts, especially considering the kind of start they had got to the chase. Rohit smacked 30 in 17 balls, hitting one straight down the throat of the only deep fielder on the leg side. Rohit had put up a 65-run opening stand with Shubman Gill which had come in just 9.1 overs.

"I don't think it was too many runs (to chase). The wicket was a little challenging towards the second half. I don't think we batted well. The moment we thought we were getting a partnership, we lost a wicket. Partnerships are crucial, and we failed to do that today," Rohit said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Rohit said he was disappointed with the way the batters got out, stating that there needed to be some application from the players considering this is a home pitch even though it was slightly more difficult than usual for the batters towards the end. Virat Kohli was India's highest scorer and he had scored just 54 off 72 balls before being dismissed by putting a lofted shot straight down the throat of David Warner.

"The mode of dismissals, you are born and brought up on these wickets. Sometimes it will be challenging but it is important to apply yourself, and try and give yourself a chance. We were chasing 270 and after the start we got, it was important for one batter to carry on as long as possible, take the game deep. Having said that, these things happen, all of us were trying our best; it just didn't happen," said Rohit.

The Indian captain, however, said that the number of ODI matches that they have played this year thus far will help them when the World Cup comes around later this year. The 2023 World Cup marks the first time India are exclusively hosting the tournament, having done so in the past as co-hosts with fellow Asian countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

"The nine ODIs we have played since January, we can take a lot of positives from that. There is no denying that there is a lot of room for improvement. We need to understand where we need to improve. It's a collective failure, we can take a lot of learnings from this series. Credit to the Australians. Both the spinners applied the pressure and so did their seamers," said Rohit.