As promised, the first day of the first test match of the five match test series between Bazball specialist England and conditions exploiting India proved to be an affair lightly in favor of the home team India as Rohit Sharma led Indian team was successful in handling England’s pyrotechnics with the bat. Put into bat first Rohit Sharma and his men were successful in bundling out England for mere 246 runs which on Indian pitches seemed a sub par total considering the strong batting line up.

However Rohit Sharma over whelmed by the recent success against South Africa in bouncy and fiery Capetown pitch where Indian fast bowlers earned valor’s it was evident that  on the spinning Indian conditions India would unleash their experienced spin bowlers countering England’s Bazball tactics.

Rohit Sharma’s captain ship tactics vs Bazball specialist England.

Over the years Rohit Sharma has often been considered for his shrewd captainship and decisions which often springs in for the surprise for the opposition and knowing Rohit Sharma as a tactical captain that against the English men Rohit Sharma will use all his skills to play in effect.

However as the Day started and England winning the toss and electing to bat first. Rohit started with the Indian quicks of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj  against English openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley with a hope that within the first hour of play the fast bowlers would extract some pace from the pitch and give early wickets to India.

However Duckett and Crawley made this tactic failed as they started their Bazball intent scoring boundaries at will to both the pacers making England reach 55 for no loss in first 10 overs at an exciting run rate of 5.00. Out of the first 10 overs 8 overs bowled by Bumrah and Siraj yielded 41 runs for no loss and the openers with their attacking approach thwarting India to take the match away at a brisk.

However introduction of spin in the form of Ravindra Jadeja by Rohit Sharma in the 9th over stemmed the flow of runs as Jadeja followed by Ashwin and Axar immediately applied brakes on the imperious England batting line up bundling them for 246 runs; but somewhere Rohit Sharma  missed the trick too bundle out England before 200 as the tail wagged alongside Ben stokes who made 70 runs to propel England’s total.

Indian run chase started on a positive note as Yashaswi Jaiswal smashing inexperienced English spinners barring Jack Leach to cleaners and batting on strike rate more than 100 . On the other hand his partner and seasoned opener Rohit Sharma took the cautious approach with aggressive intent  against spinners but threw his wicket once settled on 24 of 27 balls as his attempted lofted drive only ended in the hands of Ben Stokes after India had scored 80 runs within first 12 overs itself.

This mode of dismissal irked the likes of Former Indian batter now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar who left bemused with Rohit Sharma’s tactics as a captain.

Former Indian batter  Sanjay Manjrekar’s lashes out at Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for poor tactics to bundle out England cheaply in the 1st innings of first test match.

Former Indian batter now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Team India skipper Rohit Sharma missed the trick by introducing spin late on Day 1 of the first Test against England in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Manjrekar pointed out how England openers accumulated crucial runs before they were tested with spin bowling. The cricketer-turned-commentator mentioned that Ben Stokes made a similar mistake by handing the ball to an inexperienced Tom Hartley ahead of Jack Leach and Joe Root.

Suggesting that both Sharma and Stokes were not ruthless with their captaincy at times on Day 1, Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo:

“I like to see ruthless captaincy, and Rohit Sharma bowling eight overs of seam and 41 runs on the board before the first ball of spin was bowled wasn’t ruthless captaincy. In the same way, Ben Stokes giving the ball to somebody like Tom Hartley. If you had to go with spin with Yashaswi Jaiswal there as a danger player, he could have started off with Jack Leach, the more experienced spinner, and somebody like Joe Root.“

Rohit Sharma threw away an impressive start, getting out after scoring 24 runs off 27 deliveries. Manjrekar reckoned that batters like Sharma can afford to trust their defence, instead of relying on just his attacking game.

Commenting on Rohit’s dismissal, the former cricketer said:

“He will be very disappointed. I made the same observation that I did with Joe Root. Guys like Joe Root and Rohit Sharma, who are not insecure in defence in these kind of conditions, they can afford to not be that aggressive because when you’re looking to hit the ball in the air, there is an element of risk, which is understandable for somebody who doesn’t have the confidence to survive just by defending.”

While Rohit Sharma failed to convert his start into a big score, his opening partner, Yashaswi Jaiswal, remained unbeaten on 76. He helped the Men in Blue finish at 119/1 at stumps on Day 1, still trailing England’s 246-run total by 127 runs.

However with batting with the likes of Shubman Gill , KL  Rahul, Shreyas Iyer yet to face the English bowling going forward in preceding days, Sanjay Manjrekar instills hope that India captained by Rohit Sharma  will look to take a decent lead and then unleash the spinners on English batters in a bid to inflict an innings defeat to take a 1-0 lead in the series.