Team India faced a heartbreaking 28-run defeat against England in the inaugural Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday (January 28).

After giving away a substantial first-innings lead of 190 runs, England capitalized on Ollie Pope’s outstanding 196 to reach a total of 420 in their second innings, setting a challenging target of 231 for India.

In pursuit of the target, the home side faltered and was dismissed for 202 in 69.2 overs. The batting performance was lackluster, with no player managing to reach a half-century.

Following the defeat, India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, admitted that they were not “brave enough” in their second innings.

“When you are put against a wall, you need to show character and you need to be brave enough, which I thought we weren’t,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. “We wanted to take some chances… we didn’t take chances with the bat. But that can happen.”

The Indian captain, in a sportsmanlike manner after the loss, praised Ollie Pope’s innings as “arguably the best” he had witnessed from an overseas batter in Indian conditions.

“You have to acknowledge and commend Ollie Pope for his outstanding innings,” remarked Rohit. “That was an impressive knock. Despite securing a lead of 190 runs, we felt we were still very much in the game, but then came an exceptional batting performance, arguably the best I’ve seen from an overseas batter in Indian conditions.

“Ollie Pope played an exceptional innings. I was confident that a target of 230 was achievable; the pitch didn’t offer too much, but unfortunately, our batting fell short of reaching that score.

“This marks the first time that India has lost a Test match at home after taking a first-innings lead exceeding 100 runs. However, Rohit refrained from placing blame on the bowlers for the defeat.”

“I went and checked where we bowled [after the third day], and I thought we bowled in the right areas,” Rohit stated. “When you finish the day, you analyse: what went well, what didn’t go well, and things like that. We went back and saw things; we spoke about [them] and I thought the bowlers executed the plan really well.

“Hard to look at one or two things. Overall we failed as a team. I thought after the first innings of their batting and our batting I thought we were very much in the game. We didn’t bat well enough to get to that score [in the second innings].”

Rohit Sharma also commended India’s lower-order batsmen, acknowledging their resilience that provided a glimmer of hope late on the penultimate day.

Facing a challenging situation at 119/7, KS Bharat and R Ashwin built a crucial 57-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj contributed an additional 25 runs for the last wicket. Unfortunately, they were unable to extend the game into the final day.

“I wanted them to take the game to the fifth day; 20-30 runs anything is possible,” Rohit said. “The lower order fought really well, and showed the top order that you need to fight it out. It is the first game of the series. I hope the guys can learn from that.”

(ESPNCricinfo Inputs)