“The batting was shambles, it was just ridiculous” - Sunil Gavaskar blasts India for inept performance on Day 5 of WTC final
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has hit out at Team India over their shoddy batting performance on Day 5 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, describing it as "shambles" and "ridiculous".
India went down to the Aussies by 209 runs at The Oval on Sunday to extend their wait for an ICC title. Chasing 444 for a record win, India resumed their innings on 164/3 but were knocked over for 234 in the first session of play itself.
Virat Kohli (49) and Ravindra Jadeja (0) were dismissed by Scott Boland in one over, pretty much killing India’s faint hopes in the contest. A number of batters including Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane fell to aggressive strokes in India’s second innings, which did not please Gavaskar.
In a post-match discussion on Star Sports, he lashed out at the batting effort and commented:
“I don’t think with the kind of batting that we had... the batting was a shambles today. It was just ridiculous. The shot-making, we saw some pretty ordinary shots yesterday. [Cheteshwar] Pujara, somebody who you never expect to be playing that shot [upper cut]. Maybe somebody has gone into his head and said, ‘strike rate, strike rate’, so he is looking to do this strike rate business. Whatever it is.
“And today, some of the shots that we saw, I mean, how do you expect to win? We have not even lasted a session with this batting line-up. Eight [seven] wickets have not lasted a session. Come on.”
While Kohli was dismissed for 49, adding only five runs to his overnight score. Rahane scored 46 before being caught behind off Mitchell Starc's bowling.
“You go and hammer them 2-0 or 3-0” - Gavaskar takes a dig at India for bossing weak teams
Expressing his frustration at India’s inability to deliver against strong sides, while dominating weaker ones, Gavaskar said that it does not make India a good team.
He stated:
“We have now got two matches against the West Indies. The West Indies are not the best team in the world. You go and hammer them 2-0 or 3-0, whatever the matches are. Doesn’t mean that [you are the best team].
“When you come across and get to the finals may be two years down the road and you are playing Australia again and you are going to make the same mistakes again, how do you win the trophy?”
India haven’t won an ICC trophy since 2013 when MS Dhoni-led them to victory in the Champions Trophy