Batting great Sachin Tendulkar questioned Team India’s team selection after a heartbreaking defeat in the World Test Championship Final against Australia on Sunday at the Oval, London. It was a below-par performance from the Indian players in the one-off Test as they struggled with both bat and ball against a well-prepared Australian side. Rohit Sharma and Co. played quality cricket in the second World Test Championship cycle but failed to get going when it mattered the most in the final against Australia.
Tendulkar congratulated Australia for winning the glorious mace and hailed Travis Head and Steve Smith for setting up a solid foundation for a triumph.
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Congratulations to Team Australia on winning the #WTCFinal. @stevesmith49 and @travishead34 set a solid foundation on Day one itself to tilt the game in their favour. India had to bat big in the first innings to stay in the game, but they couldn’t. There were some good moments…— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 11, 2023
The legendary Indian cricketer further expressed his disappointment over Ravichandran Ashwin’s exclusion from the XI for the mega clash.
“There were some good moments for Team India, but I fail to understand the exclusion of @ashwinravi99 in the playing XI, who is currently the number one Test bowler in the world,” he wrote/
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The 50-year-old said that a skilful spinner like R Ashwin doesn’t rely heavily on the turning tracks to get the job done.
“Like I had mentioned before the match, skillful spinners don’t always rely on turning tracks, they use drift in the air and bounce off the surface to disguise their variations. Not to forget, Australia had 5 left-handers out of their top 8 batters,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Indian batters failed to put up a fight on Day 5 in the 444-run chase as they lost seven wickets before the Lunch break to throw away their chance to win the World Test Championship Final second straight season.
Scott Boland (3/46) was the best bowler on view as he removed Kohli and Jadeja in a single over to decisively end the contest and the rest was a formality. Nathan Lyon (4/41), however, had the best figures as he mopped up the tail in a jiffy.
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