Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma made it clear that the batters were unable to perform well at The Oval and they failed to show promise at the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia on Sunday.
Even though India had eight batters with scores between 40 and 49, few of them were able to turn it into a significant inning. The Rohit-led team paid a price for it as they were soundly defeated during the summit match.
The bowlers did have strategies against Steve Smith and Travis Head, but they fell flat, and that turned out to be a turning point, the India captain continued.
“That one was hard. With us choosing to bat first in those conditions and winning the toss, we got off to a good start. After bowling fairly well in the opening session, we slightly underperformed in the second.”
“But once more, kudos to the Australian batters, especially Travis Head, who came in and played really well. We were a little taken aback by that at first, but after that, we realized it was always difficult to return. We performed well. Although we fought valiantly, Australia deserves praise.”
“There was much discussion. We discussed bowling with more precision. But it wasn’t successful. Things like that can occur, he said during the presentation.”
“I thought Rahane and Shardul’s comeback from being 5 down for 150 was fantastic. They stood up, formed a strong partnership, and helped keep us in the game. In the second inning, our bowling performance was fairly strong. Again, we didn’t work hard at the plate. It was an excellent pitch to bat on.”
“The pitch was fairly well-behaved over the course of five days, and we were unable to take advantage. To reach two finals, we put in four years of extremely hard work. We are disappointed by it. We want to surpass that. But you can’t take anything away from the work we’ve accomplished over the past two years. It’s a fantastic effort.”
“In those series, there were numerous competitors. We’ll maintain our composure and compete for the following title, too,” he continued.
Australia won the inaugural World Test Championship title with a crushing 209-run victory on the fifth day of the summit match, continuing India’s poor performance at ICC events.
After losing to New Zealand in the inaugural WTC finals in 2021, this was India’s second defeat in as many finals.
India began the day at 164 for 3 in their pursuit of the improbable target of 444 but soon fell behind after losing batting stalwart Virat Kohli (49), Ravindra Jadeja (0), and Ajinkya Rahane (43) to be bowled out for 234 in 63.3 overs.
The best bowler in the match was Scott Boland (3/46) who quickly put an end to the match by dismissing Kohli and Jadeja in one over. The rest was a mere formality.
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