WTC Final: "The confidence was not seen in Ajinkya Rahane's batting" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra has said that the early dismissals of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane set India back on the sixth day of the WTC final, with the Indian vice-captain looking all at sea.
Kyle Jamieson dealt a couple of huge blows to Team India by getting rid of Kohli and Pujara in his first spell. Although Rahane did hang around for a while, he nicked a Trent Boult delivery on his pads to BJ Watling behind the stumps.
While talking about India's batting debacle in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted that the onus was on the established Indian batsmen to deliver the goods.
While acknowledging that Rahane was slightly unlucky to be strangled down the leg side, the cricketer-turned-commentator observed that the touch artist never looked comfortable in the middle. He said:
"When you play such a big match, you look at your main players, that Kohli, Rohit, Rahane and Pujara will do well. Ajinkya Rahane did score 49 runs in the first innings but in this innings, he was completely at sea. Eventually he got out in an unlucky manner but before that, the confidence was not seen in his batting."
Ajinkya Rahane scored 15 runs off the 40 deliveries he faced. He looked tentative in his footwork and endured a slightly harrowing time in the middle.
Aakash Chopra on the importance of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara's wickets
Aakash Chopra pointed out that Team India were put on the back foot straightaway when Virat Kohli was dismissed in just the sixth over of the day.
"When you started, the first hour was going to be important. If you don't lose a wicket, you will take the match forward and will control it. You lose Kohli at the start. Kyle Jamieson's incoming delivery hits him on the pad in the first innings and he gets an outside edge to an outgoing delivery in the second innings."
Aakash Chopra signed off by stating that Cheteshwar Pujara's dismissal was like a death knell for Team India as the dogged batsman could have held fort at one end.
"After that Cheteshwar Pujara out. You were in deep trouble once both of them were out. Agree Kohli was a big wicket but if Pujara had stood there at one end, what happens at the other end wouldn't have mattered as you had the insurance policy. Rahane, Pant, Jaddu and Ashwin would have scored runs at the other end. When Pujara became Kyle Jamieson's victim, the Indian boat was in troubled waters."
The experienced middle-order trio of Pujara, Kohli and Rahane managed just 43 runs between them. Their dismissals left a lot to be done by the lower-middle-order but they too succumbed to the mounting pressure.