Head coach Rahul Dravid defended India’s choice to bowl first against Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, claiming the decision was influenced by gloomy circumstances and the grass on the ground. India were bowled out for 234 in the opening session of the fifth day in pursuit of a record 444, losing their second WTC Final in a row by a staggering margin of 209 runs.
Sourav Ganguly, who was commentating on the WTC Final, gave some harsh questions to Dravid. Ganguly questioned former teammate Dravid about the reasoning behind bowling first, and he stated that the choice was not about ‘tackling pressure’.
“We chose to bowl first in the Test match because the weather was overcast and there was a lot of grass on the pitch,” Dravid explained. “We thought it would be easier to bat on later in the pitch, and that was the case here as well. “In recent years, most teams in England have chosen to field first,” Dravid explained.
“When the Aussies were at 70/3, we thought it was a great decision, and then we leaked a lot of runs in the next two sessions.” We would have been in the game even if we had gotten them out by 300. “We had a chance in the fourth inning,” India’s head coach stated.
Dravid said the team was sure it could catch up to a goal of 300 or more in the fourth inning. “We had thought that no matter how far behind we were, we could have shown more fight, but we knew we needed exceptional efforts. It was not a wicket worth 469 runs. We lost a lot of runs because our bowling was bad. “Yesterday, we had some bad shots,” Dravid said.
Rahul Dravid says India is close to winning the ICC Trophy.
Dravid was also asked about the fact that India hasn’t won an ICC title in 10 years. India’s last win in a world event was the Champions title in 2013. “You’re right that we haven’t won a big ICC prize since 2013. We are almost there. We’re making it to the quarterfinals and the playoffs, but I don’t think we’ve played our best game in the last five days. We will look at the facts, numbers, and statistics. We’ll look back and find out.
“In the T20 World Cup, we’ve been at our best, but we’re getting close,” said Dravid.
Ganguly asked Dravid about the famous top-order’s lack of success in important games, which has let India down a lot in recent years. This was a shift in the debate about the top order’s failure. “Everyone in our top five has a lot of experience. These same players have won in both England and Australia. Their high standards are not met. Some games have been quite difficult. I’ll admit that this was a good pitch. But in other places, it’s been hard.
“I will say that there have been times when we played in South Africa or other places where the conditions were better. There have been hard throws, even in India. When you take this into account, norms have gone down everywhere, not just for us. Every game matters, and you need to win every game. Every player on all teams has a low average. But, as you said, Ganguly, you are right. If we give our bowlers runs, that’s a good thing. Harbhajan liked it when we scored a lot of runs,” he said.
Except for Cheteshwar Pujara, who was playing county cricket in England, India had no time to prepare because the players went right after the IPL 2023. When asked about getting ready, Dravid said, “The plans are so tight, and because of that, you need to be better prepared. I have no issues, and I’d like to praise Australia for how well they’ve played cricket. No excuses, no complaints, but on this day, they were the better team.”
