India captain Rohit Sharma conceded he needed to be better as both a batter and a leader after they were beaten 3-0 in a home Test series against New Zealand.

Sharma was quick to shoulder his share of the blame after India suffered a series whitewash on home soil for the first time in 91 years.

New Zealand were as dominant as the series' 3-0 score suggests and the Indian captain admitted that he made too many tactical errors before adding that he also needed to contribute more with the bat.

He picked up a 50 in the first Test but failed to score above 20 in any of his five other innings and was even skittled for a duck in his first nock of the second Test.

"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," he said.

"Losing a series, losing a Test match is never easy and something that is not easily digested. We didn't play our best cricket. We know that and we accept that.

"New Zealand played better than us throughout the series. There were lots of mistakes that we made throughout the series, and we have to accept it.

"In the first and the second Test, we didn't put enough runs on the board in the first innings. And we were very much behind the game.

"This game, we got that 30 (28)-runs lead and we felt that we were a little bit ahead of the game.

"That target was chase-able. All we had to do was a little bit of application, which we failed to do as a unit."