Rohit Sharma is nearly 37 and past his best: Geoffrey Boycott

Regardless of being a powerful place after having claimed 190-run first innings lead, India went all the way down to England by 28 runs within the first Check of the five-match sequence. Chasing 231 for victory, they have been bowled out for 202 as debutant left-arm spinner Tom Hartley picked up seven wickets.

In his column for The Each day Telegraph, Boycott wrote that India are struggling with out Kohli and that Rohit is just not doing sufficient with the bat as captain. The opener was dismissed for twenty-four and 39 within the two innings in Hyderabad.

“This India crew are ripe for the taking and England have a golden probability to be the primary aspect to topple them on their very own patch for 12 years. India badly miss Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja has a hamstring damage and won’t play the second Check. Their captain Rohit Sharma is sort of 37 and previous his finest. He makes fairly cameos however has scored solely two Check a whole bunch at house in 4 years,” Boycott wrote in his column.

He additionally claimed that India are weak within the subject, referring to the 2 reprieves Ollie Pope acquired and ended up scoring 196, which turned the Check match on its head.

Boycott additional praised England’s batters for the style through which they handled the Indian spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel

“England bamboozled India with their sweeps and reverse sweeps and to lose after taking a 190-run lead shall be mind-blowing for India. It has by no means occurred to them earlier than on their very own pitches the place they thought they have been invincible,” the 83-year-old additional wrote.

India will miss the providers of Jadeja and KL Rahul in Visakhapatnam within the second Check as each gamers have been dominated out on account of accidents. Jadeja has a hamstring situation, whereas Rahul complained of ache in his proper quadriceps.

Boycott believes that Jadeja’s absence shall be a large issue due to what he brings to the desk for the Indian crew. “Jadeja is a big blow. He is a superb all-rounder, prime bowler, sensible fielder and was their finest batsman within the first Check. Kohli is their talisman. He’s an impressive batsman who averages 60 on Indian pitches however he additionally offers them nice vitality within the subject. He’s a giant loss and England should take advantage of it earlier than he comes again for the third Check,” mentioned Boycott.

India have added Sarfaraz Khan, Saurabh Kumar and Washington Sundar to the squad for the second Check.

–By A Cricket Correspondent