The Indian cricket team is taking on Australia in the ongoing World Test Championship 2023 Final at the Oval. The Australian batters made batting look easy on the green-top pitch throughout the first two days as they dominated the Indian bowlers.
Australians posted a huge target of 467 runs in the first innings, riding on the stellar partnership of Steve Smith and Travis Head. The top order comprising the openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara could only manage to score 71 runs between themselves as India fell 4 down in 18.2 overs.
Later, during India’s innings, the team suffered a horrible top-order collapse but on day 3 Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur tried to bring back the momentum by playing crucial knocks. Team India posted 296 runs on the scoreboard after their first innings.
Ravi Shastri Slammed Indian Players
Disappointed with the top-order collapse, former Indian coach Ravi Shastri took a brutal dig at the Indian batters and the BCCI with a remark on IPL.
Speaking to Star Sports, Ravi Shastri was left fuming at the Indian cricket team, asking them to set their priorities right between Indian Premier League and national duty. He said:
“You must set your priorities, right? What is the priority? India or franchise cricket? You have to decide that. If you say franchise cricket, then forget this (WTC final). If this is important, then as the custodian of the sport, the BCCI are the bosses. There should be a clause in the IPL contract that if they need a player out of the IPL in the interest of India, they have the right to do it.”
He added: “First, put the clause and then ask the franchises to decide how much they want to invest. That is very important. You are the custodian of the sport. You control cricket in the country,”
This isn’t the first time that Ravi Shastri has raised this topic. The former head coach has in fact repeatedly urged the Indian players bound for the major ICC tournaments to take care of their workload management and form during the long IPL season.
