Team India skipper Rohit Sharma stated that he is short of words to describe what went wrong in their 28-run loss to England in the 1st Test in Hyderabad. The right-handed batter said he felt 230 was an achievable score and felt the batting line-up delivered a below-par performance.

Heading into day 4 of the Test, England had their noses slightly in front after Pope’s century played a critical role in wiping out the 190-run deficit. They added 104 more runs to their total and set 231 to win for the hosts. India started well before Tom Hartley’s triple-strike dented them significantly. It all came down to Siraj and Bumrah, with the pair requiring 29 runs, but the former danced down the wicket and got stumped.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Rohit said he could not help but doff his hat out to Pope, who he felt played the Indian spinners exceptionally well. The veteran batter believes it was the batting unit that led India down.

“Cricket is played over four days, so it’s hard to pinpoint where it went wrong. Having got a lead of 190, we thought we were very much in the game. Exceptional batting, one of the best I have seen in Indian conditions by an overseas batter, Ollie Pope played a brilliant knock . We bowled in the right areas.”

“The bowlers executed the plans really well, you got to take your hat off to Pope and say well played. Overall, we failed as a team. We didn’t bat well enough. I wanted them (Siraj and Bumrah) to take the game to the fifth day. The lower order fought really well there. You need to be brave enough, which I thought we weren’t.”

India lose their 1st Test on home soil after taking over a 100-run lead:

Meanwhile, it was also India’s first loss in Tests at home after taking a 100-run lead and were 190 ahead on this occasion. It was Pope’s partnership of 112 with Ben Foakes that propelled England into the lead. The vice-captain’s half-century stands with Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley were equally critical.

The 4th innings saw Hartley take seven wickets to bowl India out for 202 and help the tourists take a 1-0 lead.