Indian captain Rohit Sharma's captaincy has come under massive scrutiny after the hosts lost the first Test against England despite taking a 190-run lead in the first innings in Hyderabad. Several former cricketers including Michel Vaughan, Geoff Boycott and even closer to home Dinesh Karthik have criticised Rohit for being too defensive and not going after the opposition when they had lost 8-9 wickets in the second innings, especially when the visitors scored 420 runs in the second innings.
The fans obviously missed Virat Kohli, the former Indian skipper, not just as a batter but also as a captain and Vaughan reiterated that recently on the Club Prairie Fire podcast alongside Adam Gilchrist. Vaughan said that had Kohli been captain in Hyderabad, India wouldn't have lost while suggesting that Rohit switched off once England were in pole position when Ollie Pope was going great guns.
"They miss Virat Kohli's captaincy massively in Test cricket. [If] Virat's captain this week, India wouldn't have lost that game," Vaughan said. "Rohit is a legend and a great player. But I thought he just switched off completely."
Rohit returned scores of 24 and 39 with the bat but in the field, especially in the second innings, he lacked the intensity when India let England score 420 runs in the third innings of a Test match, which does not happen often in India.
India's problems further mounted with no Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul for the second Test, the two highest run-scorers in Hyderabad. With Kohli still unavailable, the young middle-order will have to come to the party in Vizag if India have to level the series given that England will be on cloud nine after the win. The second Test kicks off on Friday, February 2 with India expected to make at least a couple of changes.
