Team India Rohit Sharma expressed disappointment over their loss against England in the first Test on Sunday, January 28 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. He accepted the batting failure in the second innings as they lost the test match by 28 runs.
India was bowled out for 202 in the last innings of the test, handing England a historic win. They had small partnerships, but nobody went on to make a big score. They lost wickets at regular intervals, as Tom Hartley picked up seven wickets. Earlier, Ollie Pope slammed 196 runs in the second innings for England. He won the Player of the Match award for his match-winning knock.
Speaking about the loss at the post-match presentation, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said,
“Hard to pinpoint where it went wrong. With a lead of 190 we were in control but exceptional batting – probably one of the best I’ve seen in Indian conditions by an overseas player, well played Ollie Pope.”
“I thought 230 was gettable but it wasn’t to be. Though we bowled in the right areas, we analysed what went well and what didn’t. But you’ve got to take your hat off and say well played to Pope,” he added.
It came right down to the wire in Hyderabad but it's England who win the closely-fought contest.#TeamIndia will aim to bounce back in the next game.
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/HGTxXf8b1E#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/OcmEgKCjUT
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 28, 2024
We weren’t brave enough: Rohit Sharma
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma further accepted that the batting unit did not perform well. He expressed that they also let down some chances in the match. However, he added that they would work on it as this was just the first match of the five-match-long Test series. Rohit Sharma said,
“Hard to look at one or two things. We didn’t bat well enough to get to that score. 20-30 runs anything is possible. The lower order fought well and showed the top order (how to do it). We didn’t take some chances but that can happen, it’s the first game of the series.”
“The lower order fought really well there. You need to be brave enough, which I thought we weren’t,” he added.
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