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World Test Championship Final 2023 / Day 5 / India VS Australia Final Score / Australia Win By 209 Runs
From team selection to the wrong strategy. Total bat & ball failure by India. India paid the price for the same mistake in both editions of the World Test Championship Final (2021 & 2023). India reached the finals of the 1st 2 editions of the World Test Championship. But both times they made the same mistake. India hasn’t learned from the mistakes of the WTC 2021 Final. Team India had to pay the loss twice by losing the Final match.
India’s opening pair failed repeatedly in the finals of the 2021 & 2023 World Test Championships. Shubman Gill & Rohit Sharma also failed in the final of the 1st edition of the World Test Championship. This time the same incident is repeated. To say that only the opening pair failed would be a mistake. 2021 & 2023. The miserable story of the Indian batsmen in the finals of the World Test Championship both times remains the same. In 2021 too, India’s batting order was in total disarray. The same picture was seen in 2023. The trend of batting failure continued this time as well.
World Test Championship Final 2023 / Horrendous Team Selection & Game Strategy
There are also questions about India’s team selection. In 2021, there was a question about the Indian pacer playing less in the coveted Final match. The pace bowlers had the advantage in the WTC Final match. The New Zealand pacers could use the additional advantage but the Indian pacers could not use it. In the 4th innings of that Final match in 2021, Ravichandran Ashwin was the only 1 to take 2 wickets for India. This time again the question of team selection has arisen. Ravichandran Ashwin’s exclusion is still heavily criticized. Where Nathan Lyon picked up 4 wickets in the 4th innings of the match, Ashwin was kept as a spectator on the reserve bench.
Rohit Sharma’s wrong decision after winning the toss has also been heavily criticized. Rohit made a mistake by sending Australia to bat 1st. His strategy has been a complete flop. Kohli, however, did not win the toss in WTC 2021 Final. But questions arose about India’s strategy in the rain-interrupted match. In 2021, the Indian bowlers failed miserably & the same story continued in 2023 as well.
Match Analysis
India has lost another WTC Final. Nathan Lyon has got crucial 4 wickets & most importantly, the Australian cricket team has won the match when it mattered the most. Given that this was the Final game, this has been as dominant a performance as Australia could’ve hoped for. The Australians held India to a modest total of 296 runs after reaching 469 runs in the 1st innings, during which both Travis Head & Steve Smith scored magnificent hundreds. The 2nd innings’ of Indian batting was below par & Australia declared at 270/8. However, they produced another spectacular bowling performance, ending India’s innings at 234 runs.
It’ll be time for the Indian Cricket Team to return to the drawing room. They have lost 2 World Test Championship finals in a row & their already 10-year awful drought for an ICC trophy will get further. Every facet of the Indian team will inevitably draw criticism, particularly their choices to bat 1st & bench the top Test spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin. Additionally, the team’s batting strategy was horrible, as they lost 7 wickets in 71 runs today.
Full Scorecard Of WTC Final 2023
Australia 1st Innings WTC Final 2023
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Mohammed Shami | 29 | 4 | 122 | 2 | 4.20 | 1 | 2 |
| Mohammed Siraj | 28.3 | 4 | 108 | 4 | 3.78 | 3 | 1 |
| Umesh Yadav | 23 | 5 | 77 | 0 | 3.34 | 0 | 0 |
| Shardul Thakur | 23 | 4 | 83 | 2 | 3.60 | 0 | 4 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 18 | 2 | 56 | 1 | 3.11 | 0 | 0 |
India 1st Innings WTC Final 2023
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Mitchell Starc | 13.4 | 0 | 71 | 2 | 5.19 | 0 | 0 |
| Pat Cummins | 20 | 2 | 83 | 3 | 4.15 | 0 | 6 |
| Scott Boland | 20 | 6 | 59 | 2 | 2.95 | 0 | 0 |
| Cameron Green | 12 | 1 | 44 | 2 | 3.66 | 1 | 2 |
| Nathan Lyon | 4 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 4.75 | 0 | 0 |
Australia 2nd Innings WTC Final 2023
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Mohammed Shami | 16.3 | 6 | 39 | 2 | 2.36 | 1 | 1 |
| Mohammed Siraj | 20 | 2 | 80 | 1 | 4.00 | 1 | 1 |
| Shardul Thakur | 8 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 2.62 | 0 | 0 |
| Umesh Yadav | 17 | 1 | 54 | 2 | 3.17 | 0 | 0 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 23 | 4 | 58 | 3 | 2.52 | 0 | 0 |
India 2nd Innings WTC Final 2023 (Target – 444 runs)
| BATTING | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
| Rohit Sharma (C) | lbw b Lyon | 43 | 60 | 103 | 7 | 1 | 71.66 | |
| Shubman Gill | c Green b Boland | 18 | 19 | 40 | 2 | 0 | 94.73 | |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | c Carey b Cummins | 27 | 47 | 68 | 5 | 0 | 57.44 | |
| Virat Kohli | c Smith b Boland | 49 | 78 | 115 | 7 | 0 | 62.82 | |
| Ajinkya Rahane | c Carey b Starc | 46 | 108 | 161 | 7 | 0 | 42.59 | |
| Ravindra Jadeja | c Carey b Boland | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Srikar Bharat (WC) | c & b Lyon | 23 | 41 | 77 | 2 | 0 | 56.09 | |
| Shardul Thakur | lbw b Lyon | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Umesh Yadav | c Carey b Starc | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 8.33 | |
| Mohammed Shami | not out | 13 | 8 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 162.50 | |
| Mohammed Siraj | c Boland b Lyon | 1 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 16.66 | |
| Extras | (lb 2, nb 5, w 6) | 13 | ||||||
| TOTAL | 63.3 Ov (RR: 3.68) | 234 | ||||||
| Fall of wickets – 1-41 (Shubman Gill, 7.1 overs), 2-92 (Rohit Sharma, 19.5 overs), 3-93 (Cheteshwar Pujara, 20.4 overs), 4-179 (Virat Kohli, 46.3 overs), 5-179 (Ravindra Jadeja, 46.5 overs), 6-212 (Ajinkya Rahane, 56.2 overs), 7-213 (Shardul Thakur, 57.4 overs), 8-220 (Umesh Yadav, 60.2 overs), 9-224 (Srikar Bharat, 61.5 overs), 10-234 (Mohammed Siraj, 63.3 overs) | ||||||||
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Pat Cummins | 13 | 1 | 55 | 1 | 4.23 | 1 | 4 |
| Scott Boland | 16 | 2 | 46 | 3 | 2.87 | 0 | 0 |
| Mitchell Starc | 14 | 1 | 77 | 2 | 5.50 | 0 | 1 |
| Cameron Green | 5 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 2.60 | 1 | 0 |
| Nathan Lyon | 15.3 | 2 | 41 | 4 | 2.64 | 0 | 0 |
World Test Championship Final 2023 / In A Nutshell
Australia defeats India by 209 runs to lift World Test Championship. As a result, Australia becomes the 1st team to win every ICC tournament in its history. The last time the Indian cricket team won the ICC title was on 23rd June 2013. After a decade, India has participated in 9 ICC events in various formats. But the hunt for the coveted ICC title is still on. Not since India won the Champions Trophy in England almost 10 years ago, has India performed poorly in an ICC event. Out of 9 tournaments they have played in the finals 4 times & reached the Semi-Finals as many times. In 2021, they lost badly in the 2021 T20 World Cup held only in UAE. India got eliminated from the Group League.
Whether India makes it to the semi-finals or the final, if they don’t win, the burden of failure is on their shoulders. Keeping in mind India’s recent lackluster performance, the chances of winning or even reaching the Semi-Final of the upcoming ICC 50 overs Cricket World Cup seems an impossible task.
