The Indian cricket team got slammed a lot for losing the World Test Championship final against Australia which was played at the Oval from 7 June to 11 June. This was the second consecutive time that India lost the WTC final, first time it lost to New Zealand and now it lost to Pat Cummins-led side by 209 runs.
Many feel that the reason behind India’s defeat was their lack of preparation and they didn’t have enough time to acclimatize with the conditions of England as they reached there just a week before the final match. There are also some who are of the opinion that the Indian players found it difficult to change their temperament, approach, batting style, etc. after playing the IPL for almost 2 months and this resulted in their weak performance in the WTC final.
However, the former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly completely disagreed with all these talks of the Indian team being unprepared. In an interview, he says that he doesn’t accept this theory as Ajinkya Rahane also played in the IPL 2023 and he performed well not only in the IPL but in the WTC final as well and there were few Aussie cricketers such as David Warner, Pat Cummins, etc. who also played both IPL and WTC final and performed well in both.
Sourav Ganguly further said that the Indian team had enough time for adjusting in the conditions of England and it used to happen earlier as well when players had to play test matches shortly after the ODI series. The former BCCI President goes on to say that the players should have the ability to adjust their technique, style, etc. for a test match even if they have played the IPL for a long time.
All the Indian cricketers except Cheteshwar Pujara were part of the IPL teams, Pujara was in England when the IPL 2023 was being played in India as he was playing for Sussex in county cricket because of which a lot was expected from him in the WTC final but he failed to perform in the important match.
Do you agree with Dada or do you have a different opinion? Let us know your views.
