During the tenure of captain Rohit Sharma, an incident has happened which had not happened in the last 12 years. The Indian team has lost the first match of the five-Test series against England. This is the third consecutive Test match on home soil in which the Indian team has not won. This last happened in 2012. Is India's long period of domestic dominance coming to an end? Is Rohit's captaincy proving weaker than Virat Kohli in domestic Test matches? Let us know further.
There has been a period of almost 12 years and 44 Test matches on home soil when the Indian team could not win even one of the three consecutive Test matches. The last opportunity came in 2012. At that time, the Indian team had lost two test matches against England and one match was a draw. This time, two of the three such Test matches were against Australia. India lost the Indore Test, while the Ahmedabad Test was a draw. Now England has defeated us in Hyderabad.
Virat Kohli took over the captaincy of the Test team in 2015. On November 5, 2015, he captained the team for the first time in a Test on Indian soil. During his tenure, India played 31 test matches on its own soil. In these 31 matches, it never happened that India did not win three consecutive matches.
The longest period of India not being able to win in India under the leadership of Virat was 2 Test matches. In March 2017, a Test against Australia and immediately after that a Test against Sri Lanka was a draw. The thing worth noting is that India did not lose in those matches also.
Virat Kohli captained the domestic team for six years from 2015 to 2021. During this period, India played 31 test matches at home. The team won 24 and lost only 2. 5 tests were drawn. There was a gap of 4 years between these 2 defeats at home under Virat's captaincy.
On the other hand, Rohit has taken command of the Indian team in Tests on Indian soil from 2022. He took command of the team in 7 tests here. India has won in 4. Had to face defeat in 2 and 1 match was a draw. Under the captaincy of Rohit, India has suffered two defeats at home within 10 months.
Virat captained the Test team for the first time during the Australia tour in 2014-15. He took command in only 2 matches, in one the team lost by 48 runs and the other match was a draw. Virat scored 3 centuries in these and with his field placement and aggressive captaincy, he brought the team close to victory both the times. He could proceed further only after winning the Test series in Australia.
There was a lack of attacking field and intent from the beginning under Rohit's captaincy. When Team India was dominating, Rohit's field placement was going well but as soon as the pressure came, he looked scattered. Even in the first Test against England, Team India fielded a defensive field till the end. Where the English players stole singles very easily, scored runs with sweeps and rotated the strike continuously.
Although Dhoni is called the best captain of Team India, but in Test matches he is nowhere near Kohli. Virat played 11 series in India as captain and won all of them. The team defeated South Africa, England, New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh 2-2 series. While won the series once each against Australia and Sri Lanka.
Under Dhoni's captaincy, India was defeated 2-1 by England at home, while South Africa drew 2 series. Under the captaincy of Rohit, the Indian team defeated Australia and Sri Lanka in series. But India won only 4 times in total 7 tests.
Also Read: Who can replace Ravindra Jadeja for the Test series against England?
Give Your Feedback