Home
Barring the fightback from Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur, nothing has gone India's way in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at the Oval. The situation is such, after the close of Day 3's play Australia have taken the lead of 296 runs and have lost four wickets at the score of 123 with Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green intact on the crease.
It all started with the omission of Ravichandran Ashwin in India's playing XI for which Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and Indian team management were brutally criticised by many cricket experts. India's bowling attack with four-seamer-and-one-spinner combination failed miserably to keep things tight for Australian batters. Riding on Travis Head's exceptional 163 and Steve Smith's 121, Australia posted a colossal total of 469. In reply, India's top-order collapsed like a house of cards which left India reeling at 71/4. Ravindra Jadeja (48) combined with Ajinkya Rahane and stitched a 71-run partnership to take India's score to 142 before falling prey to Nathan Lyon. Later, KS Bharat joined Rahane but couldn't contribute much and returned to the hut after scoring just 5 to leave India reeling at 152/6. Rahane (89) and Shardul (51) then stitched a 109-run partnership to launch India's fightback and steered team to a respectable total of 296 which gave Australia a lead of 173-run lead. It won't be an easy task for Indian batters to chasing anything over 300 at the Oval.
Basit Ali terms Dravid ‘zero’ as a coach
Meanwhile, former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali launched a stinging remark on India's head coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma and found them responsible for Rohit Sharma's brigade's misery in the ongoing WTC final against Australia. Basit Ali, who played 19 Tests and 50 ODIs for Pakistan, went on to say that Dravid could be a legend but he is zero as a coach.
"India lost the match the moment they chose to bowl worrying about the first two hours. And the kind of bowling that was on display was just like IPL. By lunch, the Indian bowlers appeared so happy as if they'd won the match. All India can do now is hope to get them out cheaply and hope for a miracle in the fourth innings. During the 120 overs that India fielded, I could see only 2-3 players being fit - Rahane, Kohli and Jadeja. The rest looked tired," Basit said on his YouTube channel.
"I am a huge Rahul Dravid fan, have always been and will remain. He is a class player, a legend. But as a coach, he is absolutely zero. You prepared turning pitches on India. Just answer me this. When India travelled to Australia, were there similar wickets? They had bouncy pitches, right? God knows what he was thinking. Jab upar wala akal baant raha tha toh pata nahi kaha pahaado ke peeche chhupe huye thhe (God knows where he was when god was distributing brains)," Basit concluded.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
