India’s wait for an ICC title got extended when they lost the World Test Championship Final against Australia by 209 runs in June. At The Oval in London, Australia were boosted by centuries from Steve Smith and Travis Head while their bowlers were up to the task too. Barring a 89 from Ajinkya Rahane in the first innings and Mohammed Siraj’s bowling, there was not much to write home about from the Indian side. Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was the BCCI and the team selectors to ask questions on the performance.
“The selectors and board should be asking questions, ‘Why did you field first (at WTC final)? Okay, it was explained at the toss that it was overcast and all. The question after that should be, you didn’t know about Travis Head’s weakness against the short ball?” Gavaskar said. “Why was the bouncer employed only when he had scored 80 runs. You know, the moment Head came into the bat, in the commentary box, we had Ricky Ponting saying, ‘Bounce him, bounce him.’ Everyone knew about it but we didn’t try. Mind you, if I was in the commentary box, I would never tell anyone about an India player’s weakness. This is where the selection committee should be calling both captain and coach and asking, ‘Hello, what happened?’.” The Indian cricket team hasn’t won any ICC trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy, under captain MS Dhoni.
