Rohit Sharma led the team to another victory in Rajkot as India won the third Test against England by a huge margin of 434 runs. It was the biggest win for India in Test cricket in terms of runs and they performed brilliantly in all departments to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Former England captain Michael Vaughan and Dinesh Karthik spoke about Rohit Sharma’s Test captaincy as he has been brilliant as a captain in this series after the series-opening setback in Hyderabad.
Michael Vaughan asked Dinesh Karthik if Rohit Sharma made a statement as Test captain by winning the Test match against England without the presence of key players like KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant. Dinesh Karthik agreed and also added that Ravichandran Ashwin was also absent when India bowled in the first innings and still Rohit Sharma was brilliant as captain.
“Yes, I would say so. Mainly because you said the four names, but the most important thing is that in the first innings, when India played, they did not have Ashwin. That is a big mistake in India and despite that, it has made this Test match happen for India. That says a lot about his captaincy, yes, there were some murmurs and conversations about how he could have led the team well and I agree that there were moments in Hyderabad when he let the game drift,” Dinesh Karthik said on CricBuzz.
“He did a good job in Vizag and I think he has come back stronger. Ben Duckett made it difficult for him in the first innings but he found a way to come back on the third day even without an Ashwin. Now we add the others, KL Rahul, Kohli, Shami and Rishabh Pant, this is a very strong Indian team and all of them are there,” Karthik added.
Watch: Dinesh Karthik praises Rohit Sharma for finding answers to Bazball’s questions
‘Under fire #RohitSharma will be happy with third clinical win in #INDvENG test’ @DineshKarthik and @MichaelVaughan discuss #Rohit’s leadership, in #CricbuzzChatter #India pic.twitter.com/amBKUwyZhI
– Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) February 19, 2024
“There will be a lot of headaches over the national teams but that will be for another day. But what I must say is that Rohit has done a fabulous job of leading this team and for once he will feel good about himself, he will know that he has a couple of Test matches left but somehow he has found the answers to “Bazball posed a lot of questions in the first week of the series, so it’s been a big revelation for him as captain.”
India are ahead in the series against England by 2-1 as they won the Rajkot Test by a huge margin of 434 runs. India lost the first Test as England defeated the hosts by 28 runs, but the Rohit Sharma-led team made a sensational comeback to win the second and third Tests in Vizag and Rajkot by 106 runs and 434 runs respectively. The fourth Test will be played at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium in Ranchi from Friday, February 23.
India are yet to lose a test series at home since a 2-1 loss in 2012 against England and the hosts are on a streak of winning 16 consecutive test series at home. They are looking to win the Test series again in India to make it 17 consecutive Test series wins.