India’s wait for their first ICC title since 2013 extended after losing the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023 to Australia on Sunday. Chasing a mammoth 444-run target, Rohit Sharma & Co were bundled out for 234, succumbing to a 209 defeat at The Oval London. It was the second consecutive WTC Final that India lost in a span of 4 years. Back in 2021, they lost the inaugural finale to New Zealand by 8 wickets in Southampton. On the other hand, Australia lifted the prestigious mace, becoming the only cricket team to have won all the ICC titles.
While the Aussies showcased a clinical performance on a neutral venue, India kept on biting the dust across all five days. The decision of balling first backfired within hours of the commencement of the play. The pacers had a little success under the clouds but once they vanished and the sun came out bright, India never had a chance to bounce back. A 251-run stand between Travis Head and Steve Smith, a sturdy bowling attack in both innings and some important cameos from the middle-order batters in the second innings crowned Australia the winners of the Ultimate Test.
What went wrong for India?
Be it making decisions or performing on the field, the Indians always found them a notch below the Aussies. It’s a fact that India have beaten them twice Down Under, but just one game was meant to decide who’s the best in the business. And why India couldn’t be that winner, let’s have a look at some of the key reasons.
Did India Misread the Conditions?
India won the toss and going by the overcast conditions and the grass cover on the track, they straightaway put Australia to bat first. But to their dismay, they couldn’t do justice to their decision. Bowling on the wrong length and giving too much room to the opponent batters gradually took the game away from India’s grip right on day one. Even head coach Rahul Dravid admitted that his bowlers could never apply what was actually planned and ultimately, the team paid a heavy price on the final day of the game. All in all, two WTC Finals are done and India lost both of them because they couldn’t read the conditions well.
Benching Ashwin was the biggest blunder
Ravichandran Ashwin not getting a game was something that neither the fans nor experts could digest. Sourav Ganguly said if he was the captain, it would have been hard for him to drop someone like Ashwin while the likes of Ricky Ponting, Michael Vaughan and several others called it a big mistake. The error was finally realised when Ravindra Jadeja, the only spinner in the line-up, had the least success in the first innings. Ashwin was a must in India’s playing XI, given the number of left-handers – five to be precise – in the Australian line-up. And what transpired – one of those lefties scored the most number of runs, became the first batter ever to register a ton in a WTC final and bagged the Player of the Match.
Bowlers lagging behind on Day 1
Prior to the beginning of the WTC Final, Virat Kohli told in an interview that the team adapting to the conditions faster will come out victorious. After five days of play, it got easier to decide who did it faster and much better. India took almost a day to realise what they need to do against the likes of Travis Head and Steve Smith. And by the time they did, the Australian pair was 251-run strong. The weapon to take down Head was a barrage of short balls but the idea didn’t click in time.
Top Order was floored by the Aussie attack
Rohit, Gill, Kohli and Pujara – the top four stars of the Indian batting line-up that could never shine bright in the WTC Final. Though Kohli and Rohit scored in 40s while chasing 444, Gill and Pujara were the least effective. Meanwhile, Pujara disappointed the most. He has been a Test stalwart, has had immense success at the Oval for Surrey in the County Championship and even has a great reputation against the Aussies. But his short selections certainly washed it out all. And once the top four were back in the hut, barring some resilience from Rahane and Jadeja, nothing worked for India.
The Absence of Bumrah, Pant and Iyer
If India direly missed someone in the game, then it was Rishabh Pant for sure. The Gabba encounter in 2021 is an epic example to explain his importance and the clips of the game surfaced on social media whenever the Indian batters were in trouble. The same was the case with Bumrah whose absence pinched India a lot. Shreyas Iyer, who smashed a ton on his debut, was also missing who was rightfully replaced by Rahane but there was no one to back the veteran batter, especially in the second innings.
All these factors will surely compel the Indian team management to revise and rejig their plans going forward. Skipper Rohit Sharma has said that the Indian team is always keen to try something new but those trials have visibly been ineffective.
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