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During the morning session on day 5 of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023, India got bundled out for 234 runs in their second innings. With that, they lost the Ultimate Test at The Oval in London to Australia by a massive margin of 209 runs. This was the second consecutive defeat for Team India in the WTC Final, after getting beaten by New Zealand with an 8-wicket margin, at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton in 2021.
Travis Head was given the Player of the Match award for his incredible innings of 163 runs to set-up victory for Australia. But, for India, there were no real standout performers right through the grand finale of the World Test Championship, which led them to get a humbling at the hands of the Australians from start to finish. SportsTiger looks at five reasons why India lost the WTC Final 2023.
1. Selection issues
Indian management picked four fast bowlers in the playing XI, which many experts reckoned as a lineup for day 1 of the WTC Final and not all five days. The preferred selection in place of either Shardul Thakur or Umesh Yadav would have been the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been the leading wicket taker for Team India in the WTC cycle 2021-23.