India suffered an embarrassing 28-run defeat at home in the first Test against England, as India’s 190-run lead after the first innings went into vain. England, batting first, put 246 runs on the board, while a Virat Kohli-less India put 436 runs on the board courtesy of fifty-plus scores from Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja.
In the second innings, Ollie Pope frustrated the Rohit Sharma-led side with his 196 (278), which featured 21 fours. In reply, India tumbled for just 202 runs.
Several fans and pundits slammed the home side for failing to play spin as Tom Hartley took a seven-wicket haul. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma faced a lot of heat for his poor leadership in the first Test.
In the latest event, former England skipper Michael Vaughan also slammed the hitman and stated that had Virat Kohli been the captain, India wouldn’t have lost the match.
“They miss Virat Kohli’s captaincy massively in Test cricket. Under Virat’s captaincy, India wouldn’t have lost the game,” Vaughan said on Club Prairie Fire show.
“Rohit is a legend and a great player. But I felt he just switched off completely,” the former England batter added.
Vaughan further slammed Sharma’s captaincy and labelled his leadership in the first match as ‘very very average’.
“I believe Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was just okay. He seemed to react rather than plan ahead, especially with his field placements and bowling changes. He struggled to counter Ollie Pope’s sweeps and reverse sweeps. A legendary spinner like Shane Warne would often change tactics, such as bowling around the wicket, to make it harder for the batsman. I didn’t notice any of those strategies from India’s side.”
“It was just all too easy. The way that England play, they will always score boundaries. And by spreading the field, Sharma was saying that his bowlers’ best balls would still go for one,” he added.
Other pundits slam Rohit Sharma
Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott also questioned Sharma’s captaincy and stated that the Indian skipper makes pretty cameos.
“India will miss Virat and Jadeja badly. Talking about Rohit, he is 37 and past his best. He makes pretty cameos.”
Notably, Virat will not feature in the 2nd match because of personal reasons, while Jadeja and KL Rahul have been ruled out because of muscle injuries.