'You can't really give him the flick' - Brad Hogg feels that Virat Kohli should continue as Indian Test captain

The Indian side suffered a rare defeat on home soil as they were decimated by 227 runs in the first Test against England at Chennai. In what can be termed as a perfect team performance, Joe Root and his men overpowered the Indian side to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series.

And now, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has come under the pump for his tactics in the first Test. Many were of the opinion that Kuldeep Yadav should have played the first Test ahead of Shahbaz Nadeem. Yadav had picked up a five-wicket haul the last time he wore the whites for his country in 2019 but has still not got an opportunity to play a Test match for India for more than two years. And now, there are a lot of calls for Kohli to even step down as the captain of the Indian Test side.

But former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg is of the opinion that India losing the toss was a crucial factor in deciding the result of the game. Hogg has hit out at people who are pointing fingers at Kohli and has stated that the conditions for batting were too tough, especially in the last two days of the first Test. The Aussie is of the opinion that Kohli should continue as the skipper of the Indian side.

“He (Virat Kohli) was up against it. He lost the toss and the conditions were against India throughout the Test match. The batting conditions were just too tough for all the batsmen in those final two days. So don’t have a crack at Virat Kohli’s captaincy. You can’t really give him the flick and bring Ajinkya Rahane in,” said Hogg in his YouTube channel.

Hogg opines that Ajinkya Rahane has to control his nerves

Ajinkya Rahane suffered a torrid outing in the first Test at Chennai. The Indian vice-captain flopped in both the innings of the first Test and has not even crossed the 40-run mark in 6 Test innings in 2021. Hogg is of the opinion that Rahane is nervous, especially at the start of his innings, and also said that Rahane has to take a deep breath, and spend time out in the middle. The former left-arm wrist spinner concluded by stating that Rahane has got a lot of scores in single digits.

“If you look at Ajinkya Rahane’s record, he has a lot of scores that are either in single figures or between 10 and 20. So that tells me that he is a nervous starter. Somehow, he has got to control those nerves, get to 20, and once he gets there he can just take a deep breath and then he goes on with it for a lot of time,” said Hogg.

England will enter the second Test high on confidence, as they have won all their three Test matches in 2021 so far. And, the Indian side has to get its act together if Kohli and his men want to win the second Test match that starts in a couple of days (13th February) in Chennai.