London: India wouldn't have lost the Hyderabad Test to England if Virat Kohli was their captain, according to former English skipper Michael Vaughan, who believes Rohit Sharma completely 'switched off' during the game.
In a dominant position after taking a 190-run first innings lead, a Kohli-less India collapsed to a shocking 28-run defeat in spin-friendly conditions, handing England a 1-0 lead in the five match-series. It was India's first ever Test loss in Hyderabad.
Kohli missed the opening game and will also sit out the second Test in Visakhapatnam due to personal reasons.
"They missed Virat Kohli's captaincy massively in Test cricket. Under Virat's captaincy that week, India wouldn't have lost the game," Vaughan said on YouTube channel Club Prairie Fire.
Vaughan was critical of Rohit's leadership during the game.
"Rohit is a legend and a great player. But I felt he just switched off completely." Vaughan had also slammed Rohit for not being proactive during the series-opener last week.
"I thought Rohit Sharma's captaincy was very, very average. I thought he was so reactive; I don't think he maneuvered his field or was proactive with his bowling changes."
"And he didn't have any answer to Ollie Pope’s sweeps or reverse sweeps," Vaughan had written in his column for The Telegraph.
Kohli had stepped down as captain after India's tour of South Africa in 2022 after a fairly good run during which the team attained the world no.1 ICC ranking.
Published 31 January 2024, 08:37 IST