'Rohit Switched Off, India Missed Virat Kohli's Captaincy' - Michael Vaughan
Rohit Sharma is coming up for flak as India captain [AP]
Michael Vaughan brushed aside suggestions that the defeat in Hyderabad signalled the decline of Indian Test cricket at home but spoke of the hosts missing the intensity and energy that Virat Kohli brought to the table as the skipper.
The former England captain slammed contemporary skipper Rohit Sharma over his "switched off" attitude in the game-changing third-innings and insisted Kohli, his predecessor, wouldn't have allowed England to claw back in the contest.
Vaughan's remarks came after a stunning turnaround that had India looking listless when Ollie Pope's tremendous 196 helped England overcome the deficit of 190 runs, before rookie left-arm spinner Tom Hartley's 7 for 62 triggered the Indian downfall in the fourth innings.
Vaughan On India Potentially Missing Kohli's Intensity
In an uninspiring bowling effort, even spin greats Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja lacked answers to England's sweeping tactics and allowed England to reach 420 all out despite being 163/5 at one point.
Vaughan felt that during this phase of the Test match, India required a more alert and energetic captain than Rohit, who did back his Plan A to the hill but lacked the nous and unique field settings that may have surprised England.
"They missed Virat Kohli's captaincy massively in Test cricket. Under Virat's captaincy that week, India wouldn't have lost the game. Rohit is a legend and a great player. But I felt he just switched off completely," Vaughan said on ''Club Prairie Fire'.
Vaughan reckoned Kohli's instinctive and gut-feel captaincy could've opened different ways for India to thwart Pope's effort and reinforced the home team's dominance in the Test match.
Either way, Kohli's presence and greatness with the bat emerged as a major miss for India as they first failed to close the door on England in the first half with a lead of just 190, when 250-270 may have sufficed, and then got bundled out for 202 chasing 231.
 "Kashish Chadha")
