Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar joined the group of people who criticized team India for over-relying on skipper Virat Kohli. India lost the first Test against England by 31 runs and it was Kohli again who topped the runs chart in the second innings for India.

After scoring a blistering 149 in the first innings, Kohli added 51 runs during the chase in Birmingham. Akhtar had praised him for his innings in a couple of tweets. He said Virat is raising the bar in world cricket.

But this time he was disappointed with the team effort. Akhtar wrote and hoped India would make a strong comeback, “Indian batting just can’t depend on Virat every now & then Indian batting got to perform better then this .. I hope Hindustan make a strong come back in series.”

The 29-year-old Indian captain also opened up about Indian batsmen's poor shot selection in post-match presentation. “Our shot selection could have been better. We definitely need to apply ourselves better with the bat, but England came back superbly and we need to take the positives and move forward. There is a lot to learn from the lower order in the first innings, Ishant and Umesh got stuck in the middle,” he said.

“There is no hiding from this game; we need to be positive, relentless,” he added.