India suffered their second consecutive loss in a WTC Final as they went down to Australia by 209 runs at The Oval on Sunday to cap off another disappointing overseas performance.
Unlike their losses in South Africa and England on the last tours, here, India were behind in the game soon after the first session on Day 1 when they allowed Travis Head and Steve Smith to counter-attack and hammer centuries.
Australia piled up 469 runs in their first innings and India were always going to play catch-up from thereon, with their brittle batting order not standing up at the grandest stage.
Here is the report card of the Indian players (marks out of 5) following their defeat in WTC Final 2023:
Rohit Sharma – 2.5
Rohit Sharma managed 15 runs in the first innings, but looked in good touch in the second innings as he raced to 43 runs off 59 balls before a poor paddle shot attempt to an innocuous delivery saw him get lbw out.
Rohit as a captain made blunders – many, including Sachin Tendulkar, were left astonished with R Ashwin being left out, and also Rohit opting to bowl first. Sharma was also criticised for his fields and bowling tactics to Head that allowed the left-hander to counter-attack and take the game away from India.
Shubman Gill – 0.5
Shubman Gill recorded scores of 13 and 18 and failed in his third consecutive Test in England. In 3 Tests in England, Gill averages only 14.
Cheteshwar Pujara – 1
The WTC Final 2023 might have been the last time Cheteshwar Pujara played for India. He managed scores of 14 and 27, failing to play the type of long innings that he’s known for.
Virat Kohli -2.5
Virat Kohli scored 14 runs in the first innings before getting a snorter from Starc. In the second innings, Kohli had looked solid and batted with great control and had India’s hopes up for a miracle heading into stumps on Day 4. However, he got out early on Day 5 morning, one run away from a fifty.
Ajinkya Rahane – 4
On his comeback to the Test side after more than a year, Rahane was India’s best batsman in the match with scores of 89 and 46. He has likely extended his Test career with these knocks.
Ravindra Jadeja – 3
In conditions unhelpful for Jadeja, he still got 4 wickets in the match and bowled with good control on the run rate. With the bat, he scored 48 and 0.
KS Bharat – 2
KS Bharat didn’t make any blunder behind the stumps, but was largely struggling in front of it with scores of 5 and 23.
Shardul Thakur – 2.5
Picked over R Ashwin in the match, Shardul Thakur offered Rahane brilliant support with his half-century that helped India avoid follow-on. But Thakur was mostly ineffective with the ball, picking up 2 wickets.
Umesh Yadav – 1
This might be the last career Test match for Umesh Yadav, who picked 2 wickets and was on the expensive side.
Mohammed Shami – 1
Mohammed Shami’s poor luck with the ball in England continued as once again there were plenty of plays and misses off his bowling. Shami picked two wickets in each innings, and had an economy of 4.2 in the first innings.
Mohammed Siraj – 1.5
Siraj gave initial breakthroughs for India in both innings and helped clean up th tail in the first innings. He snapped 4 wickets in the first innings and 1 scalp in the second.
