"The one thing Rohit Sharma needs to do" - Dinesh Karthik highlights Indian skipper's tactical error in 1st Test vs England 

Dinesh Karthik believes that Team India skipper Rohit Sharma made a tactical mistake by letting his bowlers set a defensive field for England's lower-order batters in the recently concluded Test series opener in Hyderabad.

England registered a 420-run total in their second innings, setting the Men in Blue a target of 231. Ollie Pope was the top performer for the visitors, scoring 196 runs to put his team in the driver's seat.

Karthik opined that India made it easy for England by not having enough fielders in attacking positions. Suggesting that Sharma should avoid making the same mistake in the second Test, the cricketer-commentator told Cricbuzz:

"India definitely didn't bowl well. The one thing Rohit Sharma needs to do in the next Test is not accept whatever the bowler is setting in terms of field. A lot of the times I've seen bowlers sometimes try to be more defensive than they need to be. He needs to push the bowlers to set slightly attacking fields, at least to the opponent bowlers and batters who have just walked in."

"Rohit Sharma needs to understand that in Test cricket, just like his batting, he needs to attack and show intent with the ball as well. A No. 9 or No. 10 batter can't come on a turning pitch and take singles easily. He shouldn't be allowing that. That is the time to buck up, and that's an area they missed with the ball." added Karthik.

India were bowled for 202 on Day 4, courtesy of debutant spinner Tom Hartley's seven-wicket haul. England completed a stunning 28-run win to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.

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"He is someone who can take on the off-spinner blindfolded" - Dinesh Karthik on Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer registered scores of 35 and 13 runs in the Hyderabad Test. Dinesh Karthik believes that the batter is under immense pressure, which has not allowed him to play his natural game.

He pointed out that Iyer's strength is to counter-attack spinners, which he wasn't able to execute in the recently concluded first Test. Speaking about the middle-order batter's underwhelming exploits, Karthik said:

"The courage to play the big shot (was missing). He is someone who can take on the off-spinner blindfolded and hit boundaries. But you can see this is what pressure, lack of runs, and to an extent, confidence and playing for a place in the side—all of this put together, I get what each Indian top-order batter is going through."

Shreyas Iyer has come under the scanner following a string of poor performances in red-ball cricket. He has chalked up 755 runs from 13 Tests at an average of 37.75.