Three points in WTC 2023 Final when Team India took the ‘wrong’ turn

Millions of fans of Team India were heartbroken as the team faced its second consecutive defeat in the WTC 2023 Final. Australia lifted the World Test Championship as it trumped India by 209 runs. Team India and its management will be particularly upset over the less-than-satisfactory performance in the crucial match. The decisions Team India took from Day 1 were questioned by many and the result is in front of everyone.

Three points in WTC 2023 Final when Team India took the wrong turn

The WTC 2023 Final campaign of Team India was fraught with blunders and right from Day 1, the confusion among the squad was visible.

The Ashwin dilemma

Firstly, not choosing the number 1 Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin and replacing him with Ravindra Jadeja. The rationale behind the decision of Rohit Sharma was questioned by many cricket veterans with cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar slamming the Indian skipper for the decision.

“India missed a trick by not playing Ravi Ashwin. He's the No. 1 Ranked bowler. You don't look at the pitch for players like him. You are playing a World Test Championships final, and you don’t pick the number one bowler in Test cricket. This decision from Team India is beyond my understanding. I would have picked him in place of Umesh Yadav, who was out of action and looks out of rhythm," Star Sports quoted Gavaskar as saying.

No capitalization

Secondly, even after taking wickets on Day 1, Team India bowlers didn't capitalize much on the slowdown in Australian innings and allowed Steve Smith and Travis Head to play a big partnership. Apart from Mohammad Siraj and Mohammad Shami, Team India bowlers leaked a lot of runs and almost every Australian batter dominated the match.

Collapse of the Top-order

Especially, during the first innings, the top order of the Indian team just collapsed with big-ticket players like Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli not making much impact. Except, for Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur, no Indian batter came close to playing a good innings.

In the second innings, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill started well, but as Shubman Gill was dismissed in a controversial catch, the next two wickets came very early. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane held Day 4, but on Day 5 the Indian team collapsed like a pack of cards.