ENG vs IND: If Rohit Sharma Was There It Would Have Made A Difference - Wasim Jaffer On India Losing Edgbaston Test

Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer said that India’s regular skipper Rohit Sharma’s presence in the rescheduled fifth Test would have made the difference for the visitors.

On Tuesday (July 5), the Ben Stokes-led England outplayed the visitors by seven wickets in what was a come-from-behind victory to square the five-match series 2-2.

England level Test series 2-2 against India sans Rohit Sharma

England rode on incredible knocks of Joe Root (142*) and Jonny Bairstow (114*) to record their highest chase of 378 in Test cricket, surpassing the 359 against Australia at the Headingley in 2019.

England became the first Test side to chase a target of over 250 in four straight games following the heroics of 277 at Lord’s, 299 at Trent Bridge, and 296 at Headingley against New Zealand before scripting the historic result against India at Edgbaston.

Jasprit Bumrah might have played a cat and mouse game: Wasim Jaffer

Rohit was ruled out of the one-off Test after testing positive for Covid-19 and went under isolation. Bumrah became the 36th Test captain for India and only the second fast bowler after Kapil Dev to lead the national team.

Jaffer wasn’t satisfied with Bumrah’s field placements during the fourth innings and mentioned that had Rohit been there things would have turned in a different way.

“The field position, that too much defensive fielding position for far too long made batting lot easier. Jasprit Bumrah might have played a cat and mouse game, you need to be little bit pro-active, which he wasn’t and you cannot complain because it was his first Test match. Probably if Rohit was there, a much more mature captain, somebody who has done that before it would have made a difference,” Jaffer told ESPNCricinfo.

Cheteshwar Pujara (66) and Rishabh Pant (57) hit brisk fifties in the second innings as India pushed the lead to 377. England captain Ben Stokes picked four wickets and cleaned up Indian tailenders, who troubled them the most in the Test series. India were eventually bowled out for 245 as they added just 120 runs on the fourth day.

“Probably batting in the third innings led England into the game. India could have batted them out of the game and that didn’t happen and that presented an opportunity,” said Jaffer.

Both England and India will shift their focus to the T20I series with the first game scheduled to be played on Thursday (July 7) at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.

Also Read: Rishabh Pant, Jonny Bairstow Climb Into Top 10 Of The ICC Test Batter Rankings