- Dec 2, 2024
It was India’s fourth Test defeat at home in the past decade as England outclassed the host courtesy of a brilliant 196-run knock and a sensational spell by debutant Tom Hartley on Day 4 where he picked a seven-wicket haul.
Vaughan said that India missed Kohli’s captaincy in the red-ball cricket while commenting that Rohit, who is a great player, switched off during the first Test when the hosts had a chance to strengthen the grip.
“They missed Virat Kohli’s captaincy massively in Test cricket”
Under Virat’s captaincy that week, India wouldn’t have lost the game. Rohit is a legend and a great player. But I felt he just switched off completely,” Vaughan said in a discussion on the YouTube channel ‘Club Prairie Fire’
Virat Kohli, the former India skipper, has pulled out of the first two Tests against England owing to personal reasons. The Indian Cricket Board has not disclosed the reason behind his absence and urged fans to respect his decisions. Vaughan was also furious about Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. He called his captaincy very defensive and average.
Rohit was appointed as India’s Captain after Virat Kohli stepped down in January 2022. India won the Border-Gavaskar trophy under Rohit’s captaincy against Australia last year and managed to draw a Test series in South Africa earlier this year.
India’s spinning department, led by the maestro Ravichandran Ashwin came under attack by the opposition’s fearless approach. Ollie Pope’s 196 was a historic innings built around sweeps and reverse sweeps. Rohit looked a bit clueless as a captain when Pope was counter-attacking the Indian spinners and helped India take the 230-run lead which turned out to be too much for India.
India will play the second test of the series in Visakhapatnam on February 2.
