Jadeja feels that the India captain is putting too much pressure on Ashwin

After the shock series defeat to New Zealand, India captain Rohit Sharma said there are excessive expectations placed on frontline spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, calling for a more collective effort to win Test matches.

Rohit’s men lost the opening match in Bengaluru by eight wickets and went on to lose by 113 runs in Pune on Saturday as the Black Caps celebrated their first Test series win in India.

Ashwin and Jadeja played key roles in helping India win 18 consecutive series at home since 2012, but they could not prevent the tourists from breaking that record, taking only eight wickets together in the second match, where spin was aided by the bowling.

“The expectations are too high for these two boys. Every match they play, they are expected to score wickets, get through the team and win Tests,” Rohit told reporters.

“I don’t think it’s fair, we are all responsible for ensuring Test wins, not just these two players.

“Obviously, by their standards, they know where they stand and what they haven’t been able to do or what they haven’t done really well.”

Rohit said that the duo is allowed to play weak matches from time to time and he was not worried about their current form.

“They have both played a lot of cricket here and have made a huge contribution to our success of an 18-game winning streak at home. These two played a major role in it,” Rohit added.

“I’m not going to talk too much about a couple of runs, especially with these two guys… Sometimes they’re allowed to have bad games here and there and they don’t expect it to be an opportunity to get past the opposition.

“It won’t happen every time. So you have to be ready to step in with the other guys.”

The series finale will be played in Mumbai on Friday, after which India will travel to Australia for a five-match series.