"Didn't Apply Ourselves...": Rohit Sharma's Brutal Verdict On WTC Final Loss

Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma made it clear that the batter were not able to perform well at The Oval and they failed to show promise at the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia on Sunday. India had eight batters with scores between 40 and 49 but most of them were not able to convert it into a big innings. It proved to be costly for the Rohit-led side as they were beaten comprehensively in the summit clash. The India skipper added that the bowlers did have plans against Steve Smith and Travis Head but there did not work and that proved to be a turning point.

 "It was a tough one. We started well winning the toss and putting them into bat in those conditions. We bowled pretty well in the first session and then we let ourselves down a little bit with how we bowled. But again, credit to the Australian batters, in particular, Travis Head came in and played really well. That took us off guard a little bit and then we knew it was always hard to come back. We put a up show. We fought hard but congratulations to Australia. We spoke of a lot of things. We spoke of bowling tighter lines. But it didn't work out. Things like that can happen," he said at the presentation.

"I thought it was a great fightback from Rahane and Shardul after being 5 down for 150. They stood up and put up a good partnership there and kept us in the game. We bowled pretty well in the second innings. Again we didn't apply ourselves with the bat. It was a good pitch to bat on. All five days the pitch behaved pretty well and we didn't capitalise. We've worked really hard for four years to make two finals. It's disappointment for us. We would like to go one better. But you cannot take anything away from what we've done in the two years. It's a great effort. A lot of players took part in those series. We'll keep our heads high and fight for the next championship as well," he added,

India's poor show at the ICC events continued as Australia won their maiden World Test Championship title with a crushing 209-run victory on the fifth day of the summit clash.

This was India's second defeat in successive WTC finals after losing to New Zealand in 2021 in the inaugural edition.

Chasing an improbable target of 444, India started the day at 164 for 3 but soon lost batting mainstay Virat Kohli (49), followed by Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (43) to be bowled out for 234 in 63.3 overs.

Scott Boland (3/46) was the best bowler on view as he removed Kohli and Jadeja in a single over to decisively end the contest and the rest was formality.

Nathan Lyon (4/41), however, had the best figures as he mopped up the tail in a jiffy.

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Rohit Sharma Ajinkya Rahane Scott Boland Nathan Lyon