After losing the World Test Championship final against Australia by a huge margin of 209 runs at The Oval on Sunday, Indian head coach Rahul Dravid admitted that it was not the 469 in the first innings. Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first.
In fact, India had thrashed Australia for 73-3 but Travis Head and Steve Smith changed the course of the game with their massive stand. Head attacked the Indian bowlers from the start while Smith played the anchor role.
India were bundled out for 97 in the second session of the first day and then Smith and Head put on 157 in the final session to take the game away. Australia ended the opening day on 327-3 and Dravid feels the last two sessions were their downfall.
The Indian bowlers could not hit the right line and length and were clean bowled by Head and Smith as the duo added 285 runs. Dravid feels it could have been a different story if he had restricted Australia to around 300 and conceded an above-par score in the first essay.
“It was not a 469 wicket,” Dravid told Star Sports. “First day, last session, win on 157 [for no wicket] Was disappointing. We knew the line and length we needed to bowl; The length wasn’t bad, but we were wide with our lines, gave Travis Head a lot of space, he capitalized and we fell behind.”
Also, Dravid believes that he could have been a bit more careful in making his shots on the last day of the Test match. Rohit got out trying to play a sweep shot while Pujara got out trying to play an uppercut.
Dravid said, ‘Yesterday I felt that we played three-four shots on this wicket, we could have been a little careful.’ “It was hard, [but] was hoping. No matter how far behind you are, you always fight. Two years in, we had situations where we were behind but we’ve come back.
Dravid lauded his team for coming back with the bat after Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur scored 89 and 51 respectively in the first innings.
The former Indian skipper expressed his disappointment as India’s wait for the ICC title woes to end continues. India will now tour the West Indies in July.