Former England spinner Monty Panesar reckons India is missing the presence and intensity of Virat Kohli. The talisman has withdrawn from the first two Test matches against England due to personal reasons. In Kohli’s absence, India lost the opening Test match by 28 runs at Hyderabad despite being in a dominating position after taking a lead of 190 runs in the first innings.
Meanwhile, Kohli is known to take the bull by its horns and his experience in the middle order was deeply missed by the team. The linchpin has scored 8848 runs in 113 Test matches at an impressive average of 49.16.
Panesar said Ollie Pope played one of the best innings and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was left clueless.
“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,” Monty Panesar told ANI.
Panesar reckons Kohli would have tried to get under the skin of England players but the visitors will continue to be fearless in their approach.
“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 without the fear of failure,” Panesar added.
The former left-arm spinner reckons Rohit Sharma will need to turn the tables in the second Test match.
“Virat Kohli has that presence and intensity, which is missing currently in the India team. Virat Kohli has that aura and presence. If England win the next Test match then India will be in big trouble. This is a big moment for Rohit Sharma, he needs to show that he can turn around the match without Virat Kohli,” Panesar added.
The second Test match between India and England will be played at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam from 2nd February.
