"Clueless Rohit Sharma needs to stop giving freedom.."- Monty Panesar tears apart Indian captain

As the Indian team lost the opening 1st Test of a 5-match series against England by a 28-run margin, former England left-arm off-spinner Monty Panesar who played a major role behind the Three Lions’ last red-ball series win here back in 2012, has pointed out that India captain Rohit Sharma was clueless as to how Ben Stokes’ side staged such an emphatic comeback after being behind in better parts of the game.

Monty Panesar would even call England’s victory the most famous and exciting ever in any foreign land. The extent of that victory is such that he even compared it to winning a World Cup trophy and he did admit that the 1st Test win was in fact equivalent to winning an ICC silverware even if they have gained just a 1-0 lead.

“It was one of the most famous victories England have ever produced overseas. This is a big news in England. It feels like we have won the World Cup.” – Panesar said. 

He might have forgotten that India have been comeback kings for a while now, at least in lengthy series like this one. It will be fair to say that Panesar with his comments has already written off Rohit Sharma’s men, who had the match firmly in their grip until the 3rd day before Ollie Pope’s masterclass knock of 196 and Tom Hartley’s match-winning spell of 7/62.

“Rohit Sharma Was Clueless”, Monty Panesar Opines On The Freedom India Gave To England In 3rd Innings

If it wasn’t for the bowling change made by Rohit Sharma to let the spinners take the back seat and allow Jasprit Bumrah to try and reverse the ball then England would have posted an even threatening target as Ben Duckett was playing Bazball in full swing and Joe Root who departed for just 2 runs, could have punished the Indian bowlers had he got set in the middle.

Many are blaming and claiming that Rohit Sharma’s tactical thinking as the captain was at fault otherwise India could have easily secured the win. In terms of team performance, if the Indians had a very good 1st innings with the ball and 2nd innings with the bat, later on, it became equally shambolic in the 3rd and 4th innings and Monty Panesar feels the same.

“It is a very big victory, no one even imagined this was even possible. Everyone thought that England would lose after a 190 deficit but Ollie Pope had a brilliant inning one of the best innings we have seen in a long time and Rohit Sharma was clueless. India need to stop giving the freedom that the England players are getting.”

“If Virat Kohli was playing he would have been in the faces of these England players and told them ‘Hey, do it again let’s see how good you are’. This is an England team who are not scared of losing, they don’t scare if they lose. In the next four games, they (England) would still play with the fear of failure.” – Monty Panesar concluded.