Australia captain Pat Cummins and India captain Rohit Sharma had different opinions regarding the format of the WTC Final. Cummins roasted Sharma with a brilliant reply on the India skipper’s suggestion of making the World Test Championship Final a 3 match Test series.
India lost their second consecutive World Test Championship Final, going down by a big margin of 209 runs to Australia at The Oval. Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India had lost the inaugural World Test Championship Final in 2021 to New Zealand in Southampton.
In the press conference after the deafeat, Rohit expressed reservations regarding some of the things around the World Test Championship Final. He said that the WTC Final need not necessarily have to be played in the month of June and in England. The India captain also asserted that having a one-off match to decide the winner of a two-year World Test Championship cycle isn’t ideal and instead it should be a 3-Test series.
To this suggestion from Indian Skipper, the winning captain Cummins retorted by giving an example of the Olympics, which happens every four years and there is only a one final event to decide the winner.
Pat Cummins trolled Rohit Sharma like a boss
Rohit Sharma – “3 match series for the WTC Final will be ideal in the next cycle.”
Pat Cummins – “Players win medals in Olympics with just one final.”
After electing to bowl first, India had a good start and had Australia in a bit of a pickle at 76/3. However, after that the conditions eased out for batting and Travis Head and Steve Smith hammered the Indian bowlers in a match-winning partnership of 285 runs with both batters notching up their respective hundreds.
Australia piled up 469 runs in their first innings to which India replied with 296 runs. Then, Australia declared in their second innings, giving India a target of 444 runs. India were bowled out for 234 runs in their second essay.
Queried about his thoughts on back-to-back losses in the World Test Championship Finals, Sharma said: “June isn’t the only month we should play the World Test Championship Final. It can be played anywhere in the world and not just England”.
The final of the next WTC could be played at Lord’s.
