Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik reckons the senior players must take the onus on their shoulders for the Test series loss against New Zealand. India suffered a 113-run loss in the second Test at Pune as the Kiwis took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Meanwhile, senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, KL Rahul, and Jasprit Bumrah could not deliver as a unit against the Kiwis.

This is India’s first Test series loss against New Zealand while playing at home and the hosts were completely outplayed by the Kiwis.

“Yeah. Why shouldn’t it (the onus of the series loss) be the senior players? They will look at themselves and say, ‘What could we have done better?’ I don’t think they have run away from it.

“If you can celebrate the highs and the fans enjoy how important they are, when the team wins, then when the losses happen, and the brick bats are thrown at you I think they will have the courage to face it,” former India stumper said on Cricbuzz.

Karthik said the experienced players will be the first to admit that they weren’t at their best in the first two Test matches against New Zealand.

“If you go and ask each one of them personally, what they think of the series, I don’t think they will have great things to say about how the whole team played, and it is only but fair to ask them questions about what can be done better for future of Test cricket in India and for Indian Test cricket.

“So, knowing them personally, and I do know each one of them personally. They will say that they didn’t have the best series. The question then becomes what do they need to do to get better and it is a very, very current question to ask,” the 39-year-old went on to add.

The third and final Test match between India and New Zealand will be played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai from November 1 onwards.