Former England captain Nasser Hussain said India skipper Virat Kohli was phenomenal with the bat in the first Test but questioned his captaincy, saying “he should too take some responsibility” for the 31-run loss.
“Kohli was phenomenal in this game. He deserved to be on the winning side for the way he played with the tail. He single-handedly brought India back into the Test match. I do think he should take some of the responsibility for the loss, though,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
“England were 87-7 with Curran and Adil Rashid at the crease and for some reason Ravichandran Ashwin went out of the game for an hour. India lost control then – he needs to look back on his captaincy and say ‘when I’ve got a bloke who averages 19 against left-handers and a 20-year-old left-hander on strike, why did I take him off?,” Hussain asked.
“The pitch has a lot to do with that – it wasn’t a flat belter – and so have the players. The standard of bowling and captaincy (has been great). I think Joe Root has been outstanding in this game.”
“The template for Test cricket has been set and I don’t see why the ICC can’t just use the Dukes ball around the world. It produces exciting cricket, so why don’t the ICC go down that road?”
