'Defensive Captain: Rohit Sharma Criticized on Live TV by Renowned Cricket Experts with Brutal Virat Kohli Jibes'

Half-centuries from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra had the home team struggling to pick wickets and break partnerships as the two batters effortlessly accumulated singles. The absence of close-in fielders and Rohit's reluctance to give Jasprit Bumrah more overs left experts puzzled. Even more concerning was the visible lack of morale among Indian players as Ravindra and Conway dominated play, a stark contrast to the fiery competitiveness seen under former captain Virat Kohli. Rohit's questionable leadership finally drew criticism from pundits, who began subtly and humorously mocking the Indian skipper's lacklustre captaincy one after the other.

"If he'd had fielders like that at long off and long on against spinners before a lofted shot had been played, the captain would have been called a defensive captain. 'He's a defensive captain; he's a negative captain'. Even now, this is good field in the sense that there is one at long-on, for playing with the turn, which is how it should be," said Sunil Gavaskar, the first one to remark on live TV while doing commentary.

Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull then pointed out a half-hearted effort by Kohli on the field, and how India's body language had fallen flat just as Conway and Ravindra's partnership was beginning to flourish. "The previous ball, just an example of the body language, the heads. You don't see that from Virat Kohli that often. Just a lazy miss; that does not happen. He sets such high standards," said Doull.

"Another single, in fact they will get another run here. "India have been too defensive from the get go. Too defensive in that first session of play when that ball was gripping. To have long on and long off back, I mean it's like playing into the hands of the New Zealand batters," mentioned former India coach and all-rounder Ravi Shastri, as Akash Deep put in a dive to successfully stop a boundary.

However, keeping all the criticism aside, Rohit and his bowlers did well to dismiss New Zealand inside the first day, but the skipper would have been even happier had he been able to add some runs to go with it. Rohit, who looked like a million bucks during his half-century in the previous game, was out for a duck, castled and squared up by Tim Southee.