"Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was very, very average" - Micheal Vaughan after India's defeat to England in 1st Test

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has called out Rohit Sharma's 'average' captaincy after Team India's 28-run loss in the first Test in Hyderabad on January 28. Vaughan wrote that Rohit hardly had any answers to Ollie Pope's manipulation of the ball and he needed to be proactive with his bowling and fielding.

Pope struck his first Test hundred on Asian soil as his three-figure score helped England wipe out the 190-run deficit and take the lead. The right-hander struck an array of sweep and reverse sweeps during his marathon 196-run knock. He helped tourists snatch the advantage away from India and eventually took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

In his column for The Telegraph, Vaughan wrote Shane Warne, the greatest spinner, would have forced the batter to sweep the leg side. The 48-year-old observed that England got away far too comfortably and wrote:

"In India's first Test defeat in Hyderabad, I thought Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was very, very average. I thought he was so reactive, I don’t think he manoeuvred his field or was proactive with his bowling changes. And he didn’t have any answer to Ollie Pope’s sweeps or reverse sweeps.

"The greatest spinner I’ve seen, Shane Warne, would go around the wicket and get the player to sweep the leg side and say good luck trying to do that. I didn’t see any of that from India. It was just all too easy. The way that England play, they will always score boundaries."

Rohit also didn't have a productive match as a batter. While the opener made a good start in both innings, he failed to build on it and threw it away, scoring 24 and 39 runs.

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"That for me was up there with the greatest innings" - Michael Vaughan compares Ollie Pope's 196 to Kevin Pietersen's 186

Michael Vaughan. (Image Credits: Getty)

The 2005 Ashes-winning captain rated Pope's 196 higher than Kevin Pietersen's 186 against India in 2012, explaining:

"In 2012, I saw Kevin Pietersen’s innings in Mumbai. That for me was up there with the greatest innings I’ve ever seen by an England player because he just took on the attack in tough conditions against a very good Indian spin attack and played in a way that was so aggressive and flamboyant. In Hyderabad Ollie Pope’s surpassed that."

Vaughan credited Brendon McCullum and Marcus Trescothick for improving Pope's game against spin. He earmarked the 26-year-old for even greater things in the future, adding:

"Against spin I always thought he was vulnerable – he was what I call a poker not a stroker. He’s found a method. That has to be down to Brendon McCullum and Marcus Trescothick. What McCullum has done is incredible.

"Pope deserves a huge amount of credit. We could now see a player who can dominate in all conditions because he’s always been able to do it against seamers. But to do it against the spinner in these conditions, in that game situation – it doesn’t get any better than that."

Pope also earned the Player of The Match award. The second Test will be played at Visakhapatnam, starting on February 2.