IND vs AUS: India scripted a shameful and shambolic 209 run loss in the WTC Finals against Australia. Rohit Sharma and Co were bowled apart over a period of 5 days at the Oval by Pat Cummins and his mighty Australian side. This was India’s second loss in back to back WTC Finals. While there are a lot of reasons for India’s poor performance, we take a look at 5 Major reasons for India’s Loss in the finals.
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1. Failing to read the Pitch
One of the key and vital mistake for Rohit Sharma was failing to read the pitch at Oval. After winning the toss India opted to bowl first and started off well but then failed to continue the fine momentum. While the Indians believed it to be a proper green top, they took the ultimate gamble to go with 4 pacers.
As a result, Ravichandran Ashwin had to squander his place to Shardul Thakur. Shami and Siraj were the auto picks in the squad, Umesh Yadav was the third pacer in the Playing XI. While Pundits have pointed out that dropping Ashwin was a key mistake, few have even gone on to indulge that India should have opted to bat first after winning the toss. While the pitch slowed down in the latter days, a spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja would have wreaked havoc on the Aussie batter who are deft in facing pace bowling.
2. Underperformance of High Profile Players
It is safe to say that baring only a handful, the rest of the Indian players played poorly over both the innings, especially the high profile players. It was quite natural that a lot of expectations were entrusted on those players. With the top players coming off after a big tournament like IPL, the lack of practice for the players holds on grounds.
Take for example Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. The duo were expected to get India off to a flying start on both the innings, which they did initially but then faltered. Baring the second innings score of 43, Rohit was poor in the first innings. Shubman Gill who was the highest run scorer in IPL couldn’t manage to score beyond 20 runs on both occasions.
Coming to Virat Kohli and his precarious shot selections. The former India skipper managed 14 runs in the first innings and hopes were high for the ultimate run chaser in the second innings to see off the game. What happened? Like naturally, Kohli departed on 49 after nicking a outside pitched ball to potentially start an avalanche of Indian wickets.
Chesteshwar Pujara, arguably the Man for All Seasons, who doesn’t play IPL, but spent his summer playing county cricket and scoring centuries for fun. What did that experience bring? He managed 14 runs in the first innings after being bowled by Cameron Green. Second innings was no better. With India being tasked to chase 444, and two wickets down, it is quite natural to anchor and build an innings with Kohli, but alas, the ever dependent red-ball specialist had to depart after managing just 27 runs.
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3. Poor Captaincy Choices
Rohit Sharma executed a tragic masterclass in Poor captaincy in the India vs Australia WTC Finals. Starting from a potential wrong Toss call of choosing to bowl to under utilizing the third pacer Umesh Sharma. Thinking it to be a green top, Rohit Sharma went with 4 pacers and dropped the dependable Ravi Ashwin from the lineup.
Since Umesh Yadav was opted as the third pacer, he was thoroughly under utilized in the entire game. The hard hitting bowler was given the chance to bowl 23 overs in the first innings and 17 in the second. If the third pacer is not used properly, then what was the use to select him in the playing XI in the first place?
4. Lacking Edge in Bowling
This needs no justification. The entire justification of the poor performance falls under this category. A collective failure at every department will be the very least in this aspect. Failing to read and assess the pitch led to wrong calls in team selection. The inclusion of Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur remains a major mystery. While Shardul did a little justice with his batting and a few good spells, there is no reason to justify Ashwin’s dropping.
Coming to the bowling, another mismanagement in the first innings was not taking advantage of the momentum with early wickets as Travis Head and Steve Smith hammered dual tons.
Such was the scenario that the top two pacers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj didn’t change their bowling ends. The duo kept bowling from their respective ends and thereby failed to access the whole pitch. After the game, Rohit and Rahul Dravid however did blame the bowlers for his poor performance.
“Gave away too many in the last session (on Day 1). We knew what lines and lengths to bowl. Our lengths weren’t bad but we probably bowled too wide. Gave room to Head. Some of the shots we played, maybe we could’ve been more careful. There was a lot of grass on the wicket, and conditions were cloudy (decision to bowl?),” said Rahul Dravid.
“I thought we started well with winning the toss, putting them to bat in those conditions. We bowled well in the first session and then we let ourselves down with how we bowled. Got to give credit to the Australian batters. Head came in and played really well along with Steven Smith. That just took us off guard a little bit. We knew it was always hard to comeback, but we put up a good show,” said Rohit Sharma.
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5. Rigidity in Team Selection by Dravid and Team Management
It is an absolute no brainer. The rigidity by head coach Rahul Dravid and the team management is a major reason for the failure of the WTC Finals. Injuries to players are normal and therefore can’t be blamed, however the preparation before tournament is a big question mark. Time and time again it has been seen that Rahul Dravid doesn’t like to experiment with the squad and thereby no new dynamics in the squad can be seen.
It was almost a no brainer that KS Bharat would keep wickets for India, despite him unable to prove his prowess with the bat. With Rishabh Pant injured and Wriddhiman Saha shunned from the National team, the only other option available was Ishan Kishan. The Mumbai Indians batter is good behind the wickets and has proved his mettle in white ball cricket. However, a rigid team management that refuses to experiment with the squad saw Kishan sitting out of the game. Who knows, had Kishan played, he might have gone on to put up a big innings, Who knows?
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