Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli’s downfall in England explained by Brad Hogg: The recently completed India tour of England has been a treat to watch for cricket fans all across the world. India under the leadership of Rohit Sharma trumped England in both T20I and ODI series by 2-1.
India’s tour of England was crucial for the visitors as it was going to be their first series after the completion of the IPL that featured top Indian players. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are two crucial aspects of the Indian team regardless of their position and performance. After suffering a slump of form in the IPL, the two aforementioned players were expected to mark their comeback.
However, that didn’t happen as Rohit Sharma struggled to convert his starts into solid innings while Virat Kohli suffered another horrible tour stretching his wait for the 71st international century. Though Rohit looked solid in the 1st ODI where he scored an unbeaten 76 runs, but his last two outings remained pale.
As ever, the Indian top order has been highly vulnerable against the left-arm seamers. The same happened in the ODI series against England recently. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggled big time to score against Reece Topley. The seamer got better of Rohit Sharma twice in three outings while Virat Kohli was removed once by Topley.
Although a lot of experts have dissected India’s struggle against the left-arm seamers in the past, Brad Hogg, former Aussie spinner, has been the latest one to explain the problem.
“Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma get as forward as they can against Willey and they are comfortable playing on the front foot and driving him. But against Topley, who doesn’t bring it in as much as Willey and gets the extra bounce, they play from the body a lot more. And when it doesn’t come back in, it forces them to play away from the body, and that was their downfall,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
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“England had plenty of options in the previous ODI series against India and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggled against one of them. But it was set up from the other one,” he added.
David Willey also troubled Virat Kohli on the tour of England. The 32-years old pacer dismissed Kohli twice, one in T20Is and one in ODIs.
“David Willey and Reece Topley were a very good combination. One, they have got variation in height, Topley is a lot taller than David Willey. But Willey swings the ball more and looks to go fuller than Topley,” explained Hogg.
Nevertheless, India’s next challenge is against the Caribbeans in their own backyard. The India tour of the West Indies will begin on 22nd July with the three-match ODI series. The senior players have been rested for the series including skipper Rohit Sharma. However, Sharma will be available to play in the five matches T20I series, starting after the completion of the ODIs.
