WTC Final: India had to be content being a runners-up as Australia steals the show
By Sunil Sarpal
The WTC final cricket test match played between India and Australia at The Oval, England was a mouth-watering contest. There was juice on offer for fast bowlers and life for batters was not a cake-walk at all. Indian fast bowlers did not bowl at the right areas in the first outing, enabling Aussies to take early initiative and advantage in the match. Aussies amassed a mammoth 479 in the first innings. It was a daunting task for India to take on 4-pronged pace attack of Australia. Of the 4, Boland was the most difficult to deal with. The first innings scalp of Gill by Boland was a treat to watch. The ball pitched well outside the off stump but jagged back and uprooted the stumps.
One particular noticiable factor was when once a batsman settles down after gauging the behaviour of the pitch, it becomes imperative on his part to play a disciplined knock and not over-indulge. Once india is in a precarious situation, batters going for expensive shots leads to their downfall. The most difficult corridor for a batsman is off stump and just outside off stump. Generally, it is the away going delivery which creates trouble for batters but when bowlers swing one in, it is absolutely nightmarish for the batters.
Batting on helpful tracks for batters call for a great deal of concentration, determination and application.
In the second essay, Indian batters Rohit, Pujara and Kohli all perished after making good start and making necessary adjustment.
For Aussie fast bowlers above 6 ft plus height get extra ordinary lift and bounce from the wicket. All Aussie fast bowlers are above 6 ft.
If we talk about Rohit Sharma’s batting, his batting involves lot of risk-taking shots. Pulls and hooks are his favourite shots but controlling these shots is equally important. He may get a lot of runs playing such shots but there is an element of risk involved. Anything misqued goes to waiting hands.
I think Gill has to make lot of adjustment in playing outside off stump line.
Pujara these days has changed his style of play. He need not be over enthusiastic in playing shots. Pujara of old was much more secure and stood like a wall for other batters to score bulk of runs.
In this match, India badly missed the services of Bumrah because of injury. For India it was a testing time but Aussie is a class act. Let us hope with the recovery of Pant, India poses more solidarity to the side in the future.
A good batsman should have the following ingredients to succeed at international level
-. Good tecknical knowledge.
-. A determined approach
-. Patience personified
-. To understand pitch behaviour
-. Good understanding of bowlers
-. To understand bowlers variations
-. Generally rush of blood is the cause of
losing wicket.
Test cricket is more like a classical recital; only connoisseurs appreciate. If we try to force Kishore Kumar to put up a classical performance, the end result would be a disaster.
Nowadays nobody relishes classical. Cricket is on a fast lane. People enjoy sehwag or Rohit style of play. Nobody has time. Attractive test cricket is the new norm.
Test cricket is all about grinding and not going for hitting berserk. Shorter version of the game leaves it’s reflection on batter.
I donot Fully agree With Him !
1 Selectors at fault for team selection based on IPL performance ! ( Test cricket & T20 are entirely games played with great difference )
Test cricket requires great stamina patience & abilities to exploit weaknesses of the players !
Strategy of the two games is quite different ! While in T20 bowler has to perform & deliver in 5 overs , Test Cricket men like Kapil Dev displayed stamina of bowling 60 overs in two innings !
Similarly patience is great skill required in batsmen as men like Rahul Dravid stayed at the crease for over 500 deliveries & frustrated the best of bowlers !
Poor performance of our batsman has resulted in defeat of team India as on the last day India needed less than 300 with seven wickets in hand but our poor batting , even before Lunch , we lost all seven wickets & batsmen could not display the stamina needed & lost four wickets to a spinner !
Normally in England , wickets are good but this wicket did help spinners & result of the game came sooner than expected Sir
Your comments spot on. Pujara’s approach has changed ,. So are India’s fortune. In Rohit’s batting approach is over adventurous. Virat too looks in a hurry. Gill is not comfortable outside off stump. None like gavaskar or dravid – batter more suited to test cricket.
We should have played Ashwin in place of Yadav. Result would have been different altogether
Capt Rohit Kohli and Pujara should be dropped. Gill gets out not by a bowler but by his own fault. India has been bailed out for too long by No 5 6 and 7 allrounders.
Need changes now.
Partially correct. When the ball is new, it is a different ball game. When it’s hardness and shine goes then 5, 6 & 7 come to crease.