The Indian cricket team faced yet another defeat in an ICC tournament knockout game. The Pat Cummins-led Australian cricket team thrashed the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team in the summit clash at The Oval as the Australians wrapped the contest on the final day of the World Test Championship Final 2023.
The Indian cricket team was outblown by the mighty Australians right from day one and the Men in Blue kept struggling throughout the five days of the contest. Aussies made a whopping 469 in the first innings and India got wrapped up for 270. The Aussies then amassed 270/8 d in the second innings and asked India to chase the record total. In the last innings, none of the Indian batters could get past the fifty-run mark as Kohli topped the scoring sheets with 49.
Rohit Sharma Gave Weak Excuses After The WTC Final
Meanwhile, after the game, during the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma expressed his thoughts on the match, commending Australia’s batting performance. He also highlighted India’s resilience throughout the game.
Reflecting on the start of the game, Rohit credited his team’s decision to bowl first in the challenging conditions. Rohit Sharma admitted that the bowlers faltered in the subsequent phases, after starting brilliantly, allowing the Australian batsmen, especially Head and Steve Smith, to seize control of the game unexpectedly. Nevertheless, he emphasized the team’s commendable fighting spirit. He said:
“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.”
He added:
“We fought till the end. We’ve worked hard for all those four years. Playing two finals is honestly a good achievement for us. But we’d like to go a mile ahead as well. You can’t take the credit away from what we’ve done in those last two years to come here. Great effort from the entire unit.”
Rohit Sharma also took a moment to express his gratitude to the fans and thanked each and every fan for their support. He said:
“Unfortunate that we couldn’t go on and win the final but we’ll keep our heads high and fight. (Crowd support) It’s been brilliant. They’ve gotten behind the time. I’d like to thank each one of them. They were cheering for every run and every wicket.”
