Former England cricketer David Lloyd has claimed that India is missing the ‘iconic’ duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
According to him, the series result would have been "different," and the visitors would have won the "main moments" if either of them had been on the squad.
The Mumbaikar declared his retirement from the format shortly after reports surfaced in May that India was thinking of removing Rohit from his Test captaincy in order to bring in fresh blood. Kohli also announced his intention to leave Test cricket a few days later, but it was later revealed that he had already made up his mind.
“India has been very impressive over the series, but they haven’t won the main moments. If Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli were playing, I think the outcome would have been different. Certain players sniff out the main moments and are proactive rather than reactive. Ben Stokes is fabulous at that. India will be scratching their heads thinking how on earth they could lose this 3-1,” Lloyd wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.
India is behind 2-1 in the series going into the fifth day of the final Test, where the hosts are 35 runs from victory with four wickets remaining.
Lloyd also stated that following his century in England's opening innings of the series at Headingley, Ollie Pope is running out of favors. He only scored one fifty in the next eight attempts, but he managed a total of 200 runs.
Calls are being made to deprive him of vice-captaincy and give it to Oval centurion and white-ball captain Harry Brook, in addition to threatening his batting position.
“Michael Vaughan said he would prefer Harry Brook as vice-captain, and I agree. Brook is assured of a place on this side and looks like a leader. He would naturally feed off Stokes. The simple fact is that Ollie Pope’s place in this side is vulnerable. Take out the runs against Ireland and Zimbabwe, and his return is very modest. His average in the fourth innings of a Test is 16.7, and for a number three, that is nowhere near enough,” Lloyd stated.
