WTC final 2023, IND vs AUS: 4 reasons why Team India lost vs Australia

An ICC trophy has eluded Team India since 10 years and another chance to end that jinx went begging when India lost the WTC final vs Australia.

Here are the 4 reasons why Rohit Sharma's men fell short in the ultimate Test.

Winning the Toss and bowling first

The Oval was hosting an international match this early into the English summer for the first time and the wicket was expected to be dry.

Despite that, Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first. The decision backfired as after the first hour, the wicket became a batters' paradise. Australia took full advantage of that and scored 469 runs in the 1st innings.

Ashwin's exclusion

Another decision that baffled many experts was the exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin.

A recent County championship match at this venue saw spinners get a lot of purchase as the wicket was drying up quickly. Leaving out the number 1 bowler in Test cricket was clearly blunder.

Australia's off-spinner Nathan Lyon got a total of 5 wickets in the match in just 19.3 overs.

KS Bharat over Ishan Kishan

Many believed that in the absence of Rishabh Pant, Team India might go ahead with Ishan Kishan as their wicketkeeper for the WTC final but it didn't happen.

Despite KS Bharat not getting much runs under his belt in Test cricket, he was favoured over an attacking Kishan, whose fearless stroke play would have been the perfect replacement of Pant.

Poor shot selection by batters

Lastly, Indian batters got out playing some very ordinary shots, especially in the 2nd innings.

While an in-form Shubman Gill and India's anchor Cheteshwar Pujara were cleaned up while not offering a shot in the 1st innings, India's run-chase saw even poor shot selection.

Chasing a 444-run target, the batters had to stay positive but the way Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Pujara got out isn't expected by experienced batters.