Michael Vaughan, a former captain of England’s cricket team, thinks India wouldn’t have lost the first Test against England in Hyderabad if Virat Kohli was leading them. India, led by Rohit Sharma, lost the match by 28 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. This defeat was India’s first at this stadium. England now leads the five-match series 1-0.
Although India had a lead of 190 runs in the first innings, with good performances from Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja, Ollie Pope’s superb 196 helped England recover and set a target of 231. India started well in their chase but struggled against debutant spinner Tom Hartley, who took seven wickets, and India was all out for 202 runs.
This loss was significant as it was the first time India lost a Test match at home after leading by more than 100 runs in the first innings in 91 years of Test cricket history. It’s also India’s third consecutive winless Test at home, following a loss to Australia in Indore and a draw in Ahmedabad.
In a discussion on the YouTube channel ‘Club Prairie Fire’, Vaughan said India missed Kohli’s leadership and suggested they wouldn’t have lost if Kohli was the captain. He praised Rohit but felt he didn’t perform well as a captain.
Vaughan criticized Rohit’s captaincy in his column for The Telegraph, saying he was reactive and didn’t handle Ollie Pope’s batting well. India will try to bounce back in the second Test starting on February 2 in Visakhapatnam.
