Rohit Sharma Bats For Multi-Test WTC Final After India’s Huge Loss To Australia At Oval
New Delhi: The World Test Championship (WTC) final should ideally be a three-match affair rather than the existing one-off Test for the 2023-25 cycle, opined India captain Rohit Sharma after his boys were hammered by 209 runs at the Oval on Sunday. This is India’s second consecutive losses in the WTC final after losing to New Zealand in the inaugural edition two years back at Lord’s.
Coming into the WTC final, after a grueling two-month long Indian Premier League, the Indian players just couldn’t replicate their dominance in the red-ball format and handed Australia their only missing trophy in the cabinet. Chasing a mammoth 444 in the fourth innings, India needed 280 runs on the final day with seven wickets in hand.
But the Indian batting line-up fell like a pack of cards losing their last seven wickets for just 70 runs in the first session on Day 5. India were all out for 234 in their second innings. Rohit felt a multi-game format in the final would be ideal in the next WTC cycle.
Rohit Sharma said, “A 3 match series for the WTC Final will be ideal in the next cycle”. pic.twitter.com/lrbWiYDL3C
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 11, 2023
“I would like to play the 3-Test match series for the WTC Final. We worked hard and we fought but we played just 1 game. I think a 3-match series would be ideal in the next WTC cycle,” Rohit told reporters after the match. He also attributed India’s humiliating loss to poor bowling in the first innings, but he insisted that nobody can take away the good work his boys have done over the previous two years.
“We’ve worked really hard for four years to make two finals. It’s disappointment for us. We would like to go one better. But you cannot take anything away from what we’ve done in the two years. It’s a great effort. A lot of players took part in those series. We’ll keep our heads high and fight for the next championship as well,” he said.
#TeamIndia fought hard but it was Australia who won the match.
Congratulations to Australia on winning the #WTC23 Final.
Scorecard https://t.co/0nYl21pwaw pic.twitter.com/hMYuho3R3C
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 11, 2023
Rohit Isn’t Happy With WTC Final Scheduling
Moreover, Rohit admitted he wasn’t happy with the scheduling of the WTC final. Coming soon after IPL 2023, the players were certainly fatigued. “In an ideal scenario, yes, I would prefer if we have atleast 20-25 days to prepare for a game like this,” he said.
You need time to prepare, good enough time and good enough rest. You see last time we have 25 days time and we went ahead 2-1 against England in the Test series. So yeah good time is important,” he added. Well for now, all the players will be returning to India and have a few days break before they fly out to West Indies for a full-fledged series.
India will play two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is against West Indies which starts from July 12 and runs till August 13. Post that the Indian team will fly to Ireland for a three-match T20I series.
(Written By Utkarsh Rathour)