“The one thing that Rohit Sharma is not doing, which he did very well when took up his role as an opener, is trust his technique,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“Yes, attack is an option. But that will only come better if you trust your technique.

“Because you are worried you might get out defending or playing a soft shot, you are trying to attack. Then, that is fraught with risk. Because if it doesn’t come off, it looks silly.

Rohit Sharna plays a shot in Mumbai Test against New Zealand. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

“In Test cricket, what I feel is that intent is getting him into a safe space, where he feels when in trouble, use that. It’s not a method where he’s using it like he’s using it in white-ball cricket, one that the Indian team needed.

“Here, a lot of times, when he is beaten a couple of times, when he is put under a little bit of pressure, an immediate instinct is to play an attacking shot fraught with risk. Now with that comes the possibility to get out as well,” he said.

“I think his safe space right now, in Rohit Sharma’s case, is to attack. He feels he is a lot more comfortable doing it because he’s seen that success. But when it doesn’t go right, it always will give the image that it
has given so far,” he added.

Rohit Sharma accepted his share of the blame after India’s 0-3 capitulation against New Zealand, where the hosts hit a new low: getting white-washed at home (in a series lasting over three matches) for the first time since they started playing Tests in 1933.

“As a captain, I was not at my best in leading the team, and with the bat as well. That is from a personal point of view,” Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation.