Rohit Sharma bagged a nine-ball duck during India's first innings in Pune.
In reply, the hosts reached 16/1 at the close of play. Skipper Rohit Sharma was the only batter to be dismissed as he bagged a nine-ball duck.
Tim Southee got rid of Rohit in the final delivery of the third over. The right-arm seamer bowled a good length delivery, which angled into the batter on the off stump. As the Indian captain tried to defend it with a straight bat, he got squared up and the ball brushed his thigh pad before hitting the off stump.
After the day’s play, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar weighed in on Rohit's dismissal and criticized the opener’s approach while defending.
"I liked the 50 that he got in the second innings of the last Test. He looked good, but clearly in the first innings, when there is a little bit in the pitch, that same loose defense, which we used to talk about at the start of his international career," Manjrekar said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
"He would not take a step forward and he would react just with the bat, that is starting to happen, and when he had that fantastic series in England, he was doing the same thing, the front pad never goes down the pitch as much as Virat does, but he was able to leave balls outside the off stump. I think they have worked out a way to bowl to Rohit Sharma. If you see he was made to play that ball and in an attempt to play a ball that he had to play, that movement, he is always reacting with the bat. That happened in the first Test as well, where there was a DRS situation, where he was reacting to the movement with the bat, and the pad was not there.
"That makes him a little vulnerable when there is a little bit in the pitch and the ball is hard. So yes, the defense, more than anything, is a concern because temperamentally this guy is brilliant. He just maybe has to tighten up his defense a little more and things should be okay. I saw that happen in that second innings of the last Test," he explained.
During the first Test in Bengaluru, Rohit Sharma was dismissed for two runs off 16 balls in the first innings. However, he bounced back in the second dig with a half-century, scoring 52 off 63 balls.
The hosts suffered an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the opening Test to concede a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
India have been bowled out for a paltry 156 in the first innings of the Pune Test and staring at the first Test series defeat on home soil since 2012.