Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar expressed his disappointment over the defeat of the Rohit Sharma-led side in the final of the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia. The final day proved to be a disastrous morning for India as they lost seven wickets before lunch, inflicting a humiliating 209-run defeat. The team pinned their hopes on Virat Kohli, who played a flamboyant innings on the fourth day and ended the day with 44 runs. Scott Boland edges the ball outside off stump.
Gavaskar not happy with Kohli pic.twitter.com/m71R9SMhuN— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) June 11, 2023
Gavaskar did not hold back his criticism and questioned Kohli’s shot selection. The former Indian skipper wondered how can Kohli expect to score big when he plays such shots. He also described India’s batting effort as a complete disaster, as they could not extend the game into the second session as well.
“Kohli played a bad shot, a normal shot. You are asking me how he did that, well, you should ask Kohli. What kind of shot was that? If you play that kind of shot, you can get a hundred. How can you expect to make?” Gavaskar expressed his disappointment on Star Sports. “The batting performance was a disaster. The shot-making we saw today was ridiculous. India could not last a single session with that batting lineup. I mean, come on,” he said.
With this defeat, India’s wait for an ICC trophy is now over 10 years as they have not won a global title in any format since the 2013 Champions Trophy. In the match, India won the toss and chose to bowl first. With the help of centuries from Steve Smith and Travis Head, Australia posted an impressive total of 469 runs. In reply, India could only manage 296 in their first innings as the top-order collapsed. Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur provided some resistance with their contributions. However, no Indian player could reach the half-century in the second innings.