Former England captain Nasser Hussain has applauded Rohit Sharma’s ability to adapt as a captain during the recently concluded five-match India-England Test series. With all the hype regarding England’s Bazball method, Team India faced a defeat in the series opener in Hyderabad. However, they bounced back soon after and India to a resounding 4-1 series win as well.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the five-match Tests, Hussain said, “I think sometimes people confuse Rohit as a laidback cricketer who just lets the game drift. There is a lot of skill, thought, and brilliance about his batting. And I thought he had an excellent series as captain. He himself said in the press conference that he has had to learn and adapt his own style of captaincy at times,”
Again said Hussain, “Earlier on in the series, he didn’t bowl (Ravi) Ashwin with the new ball. And (Ben) Duckett, sitting there and waiting with his nemesis Ashwin, would get to 60s-70s before Ashwin comes on. But Rohit learnt from something he wasn’t getting right. In cricket, there is a grey area in there, and you do not get things right, sometimes.”
However, it was India’s 17th straight Test series win at home since 2012 and England’s first series loss since Ben Stokes took over as
the Test captain in mid-2022. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma hasn’t tasted a Test series loss since taking over as the captain in 2022 as well. Meanwhile, Nasser Hussain further added on how Rohit Sharma is different as a leader from Virat Kohli.
“Don’t confuse (Rohit with Virat’s captaincy) because he has come off the back of Virat Kohli. In your face, aggressive captain. In the huddle at Lord’s, saying let’s unleash hell on the England batting lineup. Rohit is not quite the same sort of person. He has that fire burning within. And also Rahul as well, we know Rahul Dravid, losing that game in Hyderabad, would have hurt Rahul Dravid. Because they were ahead in that game. And one thing Dravid is, ruthless, and he would have wanted them to be more ruthless. I think we saw signs of that as the series progressed,” concluded Nasser Hussain.
