From Sunil Gavaskar to Ravi Shastri, several luminaries of the game questioned the shot selection of Indian top-order batters in the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) between Team India and Australia. Runners-up in the inaugural edition of the WTC, India once again finished second best in the final as Rohit Sharma and Co. were outplayed by Australia at The Oval on Sunday.
India were 164-3 at stumps on Day 4 and the Asian giants were tasked to chase a record-breaking total of 444 on Sunday at The Oval. However, Scott Boland's magical spell sparked a stunning collapse of Team India on Day 5 and Rohit’s men ended up losing the WTC final by a handsome margin. Reflecting on Team India's defeat to Australia in the WTC final, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly explained how difficult it was for Rohit's men to feed the monster of expectations.
'We were expecting too much'
“Anti-climax for sure but we were expecting too much on Day 5. 280 runs are a lot when you have only three batters left - Kohli, Jadeja and Rahane. The fifth day's cricket is different in these countries. It becomes double-paced, whether it is England or Australia. That is why probably such runs have not been scored for the last 100 years,” Ganguly told Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“Anti-climax for sure but we were expecting too much on Day 5. 280 runs are a lot when you have only three batters left - Kohli, Jadeja and Rahane. The fifth day's cricket is different in these countries. It becomes double-paced, whether it is England or Australia. That is why probably such runs have not been scored for the last 100 years,” Ganguly told Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}Losing seven wickets for 70 runs inside 24 overs prior to Lunch, India folded for 234 to lose the final by 209 runs. Former India skipper Ganguly also had an intense discussion with India head coach Rahul Dravid and legendary spinner Harbhajan Singh after Australia crushed Rohit and Co. to win the WTC final at The Oval.
'Harbhajan and I even asked Dravid about…'
“I agree with you that they should have put up a better fight. Harbhajan Singh and I even asked Rahul Dravid about it. There is a slight dilemma while asking as well as you have yourselves played cricket and won and lost matches but sometimes you need to ask,” Ganguly added.
The former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president also pointed out the batting struggles of the Indian top-order as only Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur managed to score half-centuries against Australia in the recently concluded final. “The averages we have seen in the last five years - 26 to 28, no matter how big a player you are, you have to score runs at this level if you have to win big tournaments, which India haven't done,” Ganguly said.