I would like to pour all my frustrations about the India vs Australia WTC final in the blog. Indian supporters do not fret. This was something that was expected of this Indian team. Let us make no mistake. Australia started as the overwhelming favourites. They are a team that is used to playing in England. Years and years of playing Ashes have fine-tuned them into how to play in England.
Indian supporters, do not fret because India was always expected to lose but we the supporters, expected a semblance of a fight but it wasn’t to be. That is alright because this was expected anyway.
Indian supporters, do not fret because we must not expect India to win whenever an ICC tournament starts. Rather, we must be surprised if they do win. Yes, the display has been horrendous but we the supporters must not worry too much because this was expected anyway.
Indian supporters, do not fret because an overwhelming majority of our cricketers are on the wrong side of their 30s and are likely to retire almost at the sametime. The lack of young talents is making the older players stick to their places for far too long but do not worry because we are anyway expected to lose.
Indian supporters, do not fret that the bowlers bowled poor line and length on a helpful surface that allowed Australia to race upto a score in excess of 450. It does not really matter because we are expected to lose anyway.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is the main culprit
The display has been horrendous, to say the least. I am not prepared to blame the players alone for the ghastly couple of days. The board is equally liable. Infact, the board must carry a higher percentage of the blame than the players. It simply is impossible to play in a serious World Test Championship Final after gruelling 2.5 months of IPL which was T20 cricket for all intents and purposes. It was played on the flattest batting decks in India where the only role for the bowlers is to turn up for every game and deliver some overs. 2.5 months is a lengthy period during which the technique of every batsman and every bowler would have shifted to suit a specific brand of cricket.
The batsman will not have to worry about bounce or movement off the surface. They will only have to plonk their front foot forward and hit through the line or over the top. Most of the grounds in India are quite small. 60MTS, 65MTS just do not do any justice to the game. Bowlers toil really hard on lifeless pitches that are designed for sheer entertainment value and nothing else. One can hardly find a contest between the bat and the ball in IPL’s existence for 16 years.
The players need rest
Add to that the human body is not designed to perform like a machine. It needs rest and will have to be recuperated. 3 of the playing eleven on the Indian side played in the IPL till March 28, the day of the final. Mohammed Shami, the main bowler in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, is one among them. The fitness of the Indian players has increased manifold. This is not a motley group of players in the 80s or 90s or for that matter, even the first decade of the new millennium when the fitness levels were extremely low. Despite that, these players need frequent breaks for them to be able to perform at their optimum.
The board deprived the players of this rest by organising the IPL games right till the end of May. Naturally, the players are jaded and are not at all motivated to turn up one more time and that too in England. Ideal preparation would have been to rest every player for about a month, send them to England, play a couple of preparatory games, understand the pace, bounce and movement and finally, approach the final.
BCCI would have none of it. For them, what matters is money. Whether India wins or lose is immaterial to them. So long as the IPL brings in an obscene amount of Rupees into the board’s coffers, all is well and good. We the Indian team’s supporters are really unlucky to have such a board. It really is sad that this self-centred board dominates world cricket because of us.
Players cannot escape blame
8 of the 11 are above the age of 34. Long ago, Australia used to mock England by calling them Dad’s Army because most of the English players were aged. Much the same could be said for this Indian team too. Rohit Sharma’s fitness has not really improved which is affecting his game. The middle-order of Pujara, Kohli and Rahane does not inspire any confidence though Rahane got 89. I have said this before and I will say this again. Pujara and Rahane are past their sell-by-date notwithstanding Rahane’s 89. For all of Pujara’s runs in English County, he is a spent force at the Test level. His runs clearly show how mediocre Division 2 is.
Kohli is increasingly becoming a flat-track bully. The 180 a Test prior was on the flattest wicket one could ever find. On slightly challenging pitches, Kohli has been found wanting. It is ridiculous for the selectors not to think of succession. They made a blunder by recalling both Pujara and Rahane when someone younger could have been given an opportunity.
Shubman Gill has time and again floundered the chances given to him. He is prodigiously talented and in good form too but is not making use of that form. He is worth continuing with but perhaps in the middle-order
Wrapping up India vs Australia WTC Final
Indian supporters, do not fret because this game is running with the script. We can expect the match to end on the 4th day. This team is an embarrassment. Knocked out before the semi-final in both Asia Cup and World T20 2020, lost by 10 wickets in World T20 2021, unable to win or even draw the WTC 2020 despite substantial time lost because of rain.