India suffered a humiliating 28-run defeat in the first Test match against England on Sunday, January 28. The visiting side pulled off a great comeback on Day 4 to shock the hosts with a brilliant all-round performance at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium and to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Rohit Sharma-led hosts dominated the first three days after bowling England out on 246 in the first innings and then replying with a 436 total. But India were not able to find a way to win despite taking a huge 190-run lead as England stayed calm to shocking steal the game.
This was India's first-ever Test defeat at home after taking a 100-plus lead in the first innings and the fourth overall loss since 2013. England captain Ben Stokes rated England's win as their 'greatest triumph' under his leadership while Rohit blamed the lack of runs in the second innings.
"Hard to look at one or two things," Rohit said after the defeat. "Overall we failed as a team. I thought after the first innings of their batting and our batting I thought we were very much in the game. We didn't bat well enough to get to that score in the second innings. I wanted them to take the game to the fifth day; 20-30 runs anything is possible. The lower order fought really well, and showed the top order that you need to fight it out. It is the first game of the series. I hope the guys can learn from that."
Despite, Rohit's reasoning for the defeat, cricket fans blamed the captain for India's shocking home defeat. Many fans also compared Rohit with former captain Virat Kohli highlighting the latter's only two Test defeats at home as a captain.
Words 'captaincy', 'Kohli' were trending on social media with fans bashing the management for a 28-run defeat. Fans also trolled underperforming Shubman Gill who is yet to make an impact in the no.3 role and is attracting strong criticism over his form in red-ball cricket.
