WTC 2023 final: 5 reasons India lost to Australia in 'ultimate' Test

WTC final (Source: Twitter)

India's quest for Cricket Governing Body trophy continued with a massive 209-run defeat to Australia in the 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval on Sunday. Given their domination in the first innings, Australia were the favourites to win, but India managed to keep a faint hope alive by extending the game to the final day.

India needed 280 runs and Australia needed seven wickets to win. Indian fans put all their hopes on the shoulders of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, both were looking well-set with a solid partnership until Steve Smith took a blinder at slips to remove the former and the rest of the scenes were a dramatic Indian collapse. India were bowled out for 234 and Australia became the first team to win all major world tournament trophy.

Let's take a look at five major reasons why India lost their second consecutive WTC final

1. Poor team selection 

When Rohit Sharma announced the playing 11 for the Ultimate Test, there was a lot of debate. Everyone was surprised by the decision to drop Ravichandran Ashwin, the world number one Test bowler. The Indian skipper said it was a tough call to drop Ashwin and include four seamers and a spinner. The playing conditions at the Oval changed as the game progressed, and Ashwin may have played a major impact given Australia's reliance on left-handers.

2. Failed to understand conditions 

India won the toss and elected to field first, but the decision proved wrong as the Indian bowlers were unable to trouble the Australians when the surface eased out shortly after the sun came out. Indian pacers managed to pick up couple of wickets in the first session under cloudy skies, but afterwards Steve Smith and Travis Head put on formidable partnership to help Australia score massive 469 runs in the first innings.

3. Top-order collapse

In the first innings, none of the top-order Indian batters could find any resistance which was one of the main reasons why India lost the game. All were out before the 20-run mark and Jadeja, Rahane and Thakur took responsibility for the scoring. Chasing a huge target of 444 runs in the second innings, the Indian openers got off to a good start but failed to convert into big innings. Kohli and Rahane formed a good partnership but both failed to reach half-centuries and later the team collapsed.

4. Pacers could not pose much of a threat

Mohammad Siraj made the early breakthrough by dismissing Usman Khawaja in the first innings and the Pacers managed to claim two more wickets. But after that, they failed to pick up wickets at regular intervals and were unable to cause much trouble, with Head scoring at a rapid pace. With a 173-run lead already, the Aussies batters came in with the intention of adding runs quickly in the second innings, and they did.

5. Unable to handle the pressure of knockout matches

India's last Cricket Governing Body trophy (Champions Trophy) came way back in 2013 under the leadership of MS Dhoni. For the past 10 years, India have been floundering in the finals of major tournaments. India seem unable to handle the pressure of knockout matches and need to change their mindset.