India did not become bad side overnight: Tom Latham comes in aid of Rohit Sharma

New Zealand captain Tom Latham came in aid of under-fire Rohit Sharma after their Test series win against India. Latham became the first-ever New Zealand captain to win a Test series in India after their grand victory in Pune.

In Short

• New Zealand won the Test series against India
• Rohit Sharma was asked some tough questions in the press conference
• Tom Latham came in aid of Rohit Sharma

New Zealand skipper Tom Latham came in aid of Rohit Sharma after their historic Test series win on Saturday, October 26. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Latham said that India did not become a bad side overnight.

New Zealand hammered India in Pune by 113 runs to take an unassailable lead in the 3-match Test series. With the loss, India are now in danger on losing out on the World Test Championship final spot, with six more Tests left to play.

India captain Rohit Sharma was asked some tough questions in the press conference. Sharma said that India should not take a knee-jerk reaction and that the team was allowed off days once in a while. The Indian captain copped a lot of criticism for telling the media that they were allowed one series loss in 12 years.

IND vs NZ, Pune Test: Match Report

Latham came to Rohit's defence in the press conference and said that they expected India to be at their best in the 3rd Test match of the series, set to start in Mumbai from November 1. Latham added that while the match unfolded quite quickly on Day 3, New Zealand expected to be put in difficult spot by the hosts.

“The way that (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and Rohit (Sharma) and Shubman (Gill) came out and played, they certainly put us under pressure and we knew it was going to be a hard slog to get all 10 wickets,” he said.

“It was nice that it unfolded really quickly but look, India are a quality side, they don't become a bad team overnight or a bad team after a couple of games. They've got many match winners from 1 to 15 in their squad and sometimes it's the game we play, sometimes you can fall on the wrong side even if you play well. We'll certainly expect them to be at their best in Mumbai and the guys will be looking forward to that challenge,” Latham spoke about the Indian team.

IND vs NZ, 2nd Test 3rd Day: Highlights | Scorecard

The skipper was at a loss for words after being asked about the team's historic achievement. New Zealand have toured India from 70 years and have never gone home with a series victory.

“I'm sort of lost for words a little bit. It's obviously an immensely proud moment for this group," Latham said.

“We're immensely proud to be in the position of winning two Test matches here. A lot of New Zealand teams have come here over the past 69 years, I think it is, and in 13 series, to be the first team to win a series over here is immensely special,” he added.