'He is not a natural leader...': Michael Vaughan raises questions over Ollie Pope's captaincy following England's defeat to India at The Oval

England batter Ollie Pope was handed the captaincy for the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy after Ben Stokes had been ruled out of the match due to a shoulder injury. However, the former failed to lead the Three Lions to victory and it was the Men in Blue, who scripted a thrilling 6-run win at the Oval to level the five-match series at 2-2.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan was critical of Pope's leadership and remarked that even though the latter is a great vice-captain, he isn't fit to lead the side. He further went on to state that Harry Brook should be chosen as the skipper if Stokes ends up missing any Test in the Ashes which is set to begin later this year from November 21.

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“We don’t laud how good some vice-captains are. (Marcus) Trescothick was the best vice-captain. I think Ollie Pope is a brilliant vice-captain. But he’s not a captain. And by giving him the captaincy, I can see it a mile off. He’s not a natural leader out in the middle," Vaughan said on the Stick to Cricket podcast.

“I saw that last year against Sri Lanka. I have seen it again this week. Say you get to Perth and Ben Stokes, the shoulder or you know, his body’s in bits. Anything could happen with Ben. Fingers crossed he’s fine, but just say you go to Perth and Ben can’t play. I can’t have Ollie Pope walk in as skipper. But I can have Harry Brook because I see a natural leader," he added.

Pope had a forgettable series against India

Pope had quite a tough series with the bat as well. The 27-year-old was only able to score 306 runs in 9 innings, including a century and half-century each. His only hundred of the series came in the first Test after which his form dwindled massively and wasn't able to improve in the next four matches.

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Meanwhile, England will now be shifting their focus to the white-ball formats as they will be hosting South Africa for a three-match ODI series which will commence from September 2. They will then also be playing a three-match T20I series against the Proteas which will begin from September 10.