The poor show of the Indian team at the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023 has left many veteran cricketers, experts and fans fuming. Notably, India faced an embarrassing 209-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the summit clash and finished as the runner-up of the event for the second consecutive time.
The Indian team failed in all departments in the final, and their performance was heavily criticized. Among all, legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also slammed the Rohit Sharma-led side for their debacle on the biggest stage. The 73-year-old former batter even launched a scathing attack at the team over their upcoming multi-format West Indies tour.
It is worth mentioning that a day after the WTC Final 2023 loss, the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) announced a tour to West Indies that commences from July 12 and features two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is.
Speaking to Star Sports about the failure of the Indian side in the WTC Final 2023, Gavaskar started by questioning the team’s approach and asked them to reassess what actually went wrong. He further went on to fire a scathing attack at the team over bilateral series and said that a win against a team like West Indies would mean nothing if they continue to repeat the mistakes on the big stage.
“I have been in the teams where we have been knocked out at 42 and we had been miserable in the change rooms. We were also criticised heavily. So, I think you cannot say that the current lot is not beyond criticism. They have to be very analytical about what happened, how they get out, why didn’t they bowl well, why didn’t they catch, was the selection of the Playing XI was the right thing, so all these factors have to come in,” said Gavaskar.
“You cannot brush this under the carpet like ‘yeah we have got two matches against West Indies’. West Indies are not the best team in the world. You just go and hammer them 2-0, 3-0, whatever the matches are. This doesn’t mean anything because when you come across and if you go to the finals and if you are playing Australia again, making the same mistakes, then how would you win the trophy?” he added.
