"Rohit Sharma captained the side really well" - Nick Knight's verdict on Indian skipper's captaincy

Rohit Sharma played a brilliant knock in the first innings as he scored 131 off 196 deliveries smashing 14 fours and three sixes. India posted 445 in the first innings and then bowled out England for 319 to take a 126-run lead after the first innings. Former England opener Nick Knight has praised Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in the third Test match of the five-match series. He also blamed Joe Root for the downfall of England after being in a commanding position after Day 2.

England lost only two wickets at the end of Day 2 but were bowled out in the second session of the third day and it all started with Joe Root playing the reverse sweep against Jasprit Bumrah who trapped Root for the third time in this series. Rohit Sharma was brilliant with his fielding and bowling changes on Day 3 and tackled the Bazball well in the match. Ben Duckett was the star for England as he smashed 153 off 151 deliveries playing complete Bazball cricket.

Nick Knight talked about England and their approach. He talked about how Bazball works and how it doesn’t work on some occasions. He credited Rohit Sharma and the Indian bowlers for taming England’s Bazball approach successfully on Day 3. Mohammed Siraj was the highlight of India’s bowling as he took figures of 4/84 in the first innings taking wickets of Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, and James Anderson.

“We talked about how Bazball works. We’re now going to talk about how it doesn’t work on the odd occasion. I don’t think it was really Bazball. Actually, I think you’ve got to give a lot of credit to the way India bowled, they had a terrific day. I thought Rohit Sharma captained the side really well. We talked about heart, we saw plenty of that from Siraj,” said Knight on-air.

Rohit Sharma smashed his 11th century in Test cricket

Rohit Sharma smashed his 11th Test century in the first innings of the third Test and has played brilliantly after having a terrible outing in the first two Tests. As a captain Rohit is yet to lose a bilateral series in Test cricket and he would like to continue his unbeaten run by winning the Test series against England. Rohit Sharma was having a terrible series with the bat but he made a comeback and smashed a brilliant 131 in the third Test. He got out on 17 in the second inning.

Nick Knight also talked about Joe Root saying that his dismissal led to England’s collapse in the first innings. He said, “Where did England go wrong? It kind of started from the from the Root dismissal. I thought England never quite recovered. I thought India got on top of England a little bit, and it became a little tentative. And I thought that dismissal there was all about being a little tentative.”

India is in a strong position in the third Test against England which is being played at the Niranjan Shah Cricket Stadium in Rajkot and is looking to win the Test. The five-match Test series is currently leveled 1-1 and the hosts are looking to take the lead by winning the third Test. India has not lost a Test series at home since England defeated them in 2012 by 2-1. The hosts are on a 16-consecutive series win streak and are looking to win another one to make it 17. The Indian team has been unbeatable in England but England can’t be written off in a Test match.