The Indian cricket team is presently playing the World Test Championship (WTC) finals at The Oval in England. Australia have been dominant in the finals and have flexed their dominant muscles against an out-of-sorts looking Indian side. Head Coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma have come under the scanner for a few decisions of theirs.
As the Indian cricket team is looming at a defeat at the hands of the mighty Australians, several pundits and former cricketers have taken a dig at Rahul Dravid for his strategies. Former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali has now slammed Rahul Dravid and the Indian cricket team.
He has gone to the extent of saying that India had lost the game when they had chosen to bowl first after the toss.
“I am a huge Rahul Dravid fan, have always been and will remain. He is a class player, a legend. But as a coach, he is absolutely zero. You prepared turning pitches on India. Just answer me this. When India travelled to Australia, were there similar wickets? They had bouncy pitches, right? God knows what he was thinking,” said Basit Ali on his YouTube channel.
Basit Ali said that the only way India can stage a comeback and win this game is through a miracle.
“India lost the match the moment they chose to bowl worrying about the first two hours. And the kind of bowling that was on display was just like IPL. By lunch, the Indian bowlers appeared so happy as if they’d won the match. All India can do now is hope to get them out cheaply and hope for a miracle in the fourth innings. During the 120 overs that India fielded, I could see only 2-3 players being fit – Rahane, Kohli and Jadeja. The rest looked tired,” he added.
India have been set a daunting total of 444 runs
Batting first, Australia put on a humongous total of 469 runs on the board. Steve Smith and Travis Head dominated the innings as they scored two hundreds. India failed to match up to the prowess of the Australians and managed to post 296 runs on the board.
Ajinkya Rahane saved India from the blushes as he scored 89 runs in 129 deliveries. Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur too chipped in with quality knocks and scored 48 and 51 runs respectively.
Australia then scored 270 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 2nd innings and set India an intimidating total to hunt down. India started off well but lost their openers and Cheteshwar Pujara.
Both Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara were dismissed cheaply. Virat Kohli is looking solid on 44* runs and is forging a partnership with Ajinkya Rahane. The latter is batting on 20* runs.
A partnership between these two batters at this juncture of the game is quite necessary. If India are to win this game, then both of them have to stitch a rock-solid partnership. India needs 280 runs to win on Day 5 of this Test match.
Also read: WTC Finals 2023: 3 Reasons Why Team Bowling First Can Win The Game
