India’s disappointing performance in yet another ICC tournament has left millions of fans heartbroken. Rohit Sharma & Co suffered a crushing 209-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval. The Indian batting lineup has faced heavy criticism from cricket experts after being bowled out for 234 while chasing a challenging target of 444.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar expressed his utter bewilderment at India’s approach throughout the five days of the WTC Final. After Australia posted a first-innings score of 469, India could only muster 296 runs in reply, conceding a substantial lead of 173 runs. Speaking on Star Sports after the match, Gavaskar believed that India should have come much closer to Australia’s first-innings total, given the talented batting lineup they possess.
“After Australia scored 469, with the kind of batting lineup we have, we should have at least approached that score, aiming for 350 to 400 if not 469. Giving Australia a 173-run lead is never easy to recover from,” expressed Sunil Gavaskar.
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“The batting was disastrous today. It was just ridiculous to witness what we saw today, especially in terms of shot selection. We witnessed some poor shot-making from Pujara yesterday, which is unexpected from him. Maybe someone got into his head and emphasized ‘strike rate, strike rate.’ We couldn’t even last a session. Eight wickets falling in a session? Come on,” he added.
On the final day, the partnership of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane held the key for India as they required around 280 runs to win with 7 wickets in hand. Having built a gritty 71-run partnership on the fourth day, they needed to carry the momentum forward on Sunday. However, they added only 15 runs to their overnight score of 164/3 before Kohli edged a delivery from Scott Boland to Steve Smith at second slip, falling just one run short of his half-century.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sunny G has had enough. pic.twitter.com/gGI4P2oQQN
— ABVan (@ABVan) June 11, 2023
Commenting on Kohli’s dismissal, Sunil Gavaskar criticized the shot, describing it as ordinary, and suggested that the batter himself should be questioned about his decision.
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“It was a poor shot. You should ask Kohli what shot he played,” remarked Sunil Gavaskar. “When you are aiming to win a game, you need a century-plus innings to achieve that. How can you play such a shot so far outside the off-stump when you are aiming for a century? Perhaps he was conscious of needing one run to reach his half-century. It often happens when you are approaching a milestone. It happened to Jadeja, who played a shot he shouldn’t have when he was on 48. It also happened to Ajinkya Rahane, who was on 46. He hadn’t played that shot until that point. Suddenly, why would you play that shot? Because you are aware of reaching that landmark,” he further explained.
