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Virat withdrew from the first two Tests of the series due to personal reasons; and in his absence, Rohit-led India lost the opening Test by 28 runs while chasing 231 to win, as debutant left-arm spinner Tom Hartley bamboozled the Indian batsmen with a dream seven-wicket spell on the fourth day of the match after Ollie. Pope’s knock of 196 led the visitors’ comeback.
The victory gave Ben Stokes’ team a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Speaking on YouTube channel ‘Club Prairie Fire’, Vaughan said Rohit “just fizzled out” as skipper, which wouldn’t have happened if Virat had been the Indian captain in that situation.
“They missed Virat Kohli’s captaincy in Test cricket. Under Virat’s captaincy that week, India would not have lost the game. Rohit is a legend and a great player. But I felt he just completely switched off,” he said. Vaughan.
In a similar note in his column for ‘The Telegraph’ last week, Vaughan termed Rohit’s captaincy as “average”, especially when his players had no answer to Pope’s ‘sweep’ tactics.
“I thought Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was very, very normal. I thought he was very reactive; I don’t think he maneuvered in his field or was proactive with his bowling changes. And he had no answer to Ollie Pope’s sweeps or reverse sweeps,” Vaughan wrote.
The second Test begins on February 2 in Visakhapatnam, where apart from Virat, India would also be without the services of KL Rahul and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who have been ruled out due to injuries.