‘We were behind in the game all four days’ - Rohit Sharma gives his take on India’s heartbreaking loss in WTC final

Day 5 of the World Test Championship final (WTC) 2023 ended in a heartbreak for the Rohit Sharma-led India. Looking to chase down 280 runs on day 5, Australia were quick to establish their dominance as Scott Boland dismissed Virat Kohli quite early into the day’s play.

Furthermore, after the first wicket, the entire squad was bundled out for 234 runs as the relentless attack by the Aussie bowlers proved to be too much to handle for the Indian team. Australia won the game by 209 runs and clinched their first World Test Championship title.

Following the heartbreaking loss, skipper Rohit Sharma came to the front to give his take on the game. The 36-year-old opined that India were behind on all four days of play, and not being able to execute their game plan properly resulted in the loss.

"After the first session we thought we have a good chance of getting them out quickly, but two of their batters- Steve Smith and Travis Head, did well. We were slightly away from our plans, we did not execute what we had on that pitch which had a lot of assistance. We failed to do that. We were 160-170 runs behind after 1st inn. Wanted to get them out asap in 2nd innings," Rohit Sharma said in the post-match press conference. 

"One of the reasons for us to consider batting last was because we thought the wicket won’t change much and will keep getting better.We talked a lot about how we wanted to bowl and bat, but we didn’t actually do that. what to do what not to do, we were behind in the game all four days," he added.

Nathan Lyon was the highest wicket taker for Australia in the second innings, the veteran spinner took four wickets, dismissing Srikar Bharat, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, and Rohit Sharma. Furthermore, Scott Boland took three wickets, with Mitchell Starc striking twice and Pat Cummins taking one wicket.