India's captain Rohit Sharma was left disappointed following his team's 184-run defeat in the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at the MCG on December 30. India did manage to stage a comeback in the Boxing Day Test, but it was Australia who had the last laugh at the MCG. Meanwhile, Rohit has admitted that Team India went in with an intent to fight but unfortunately the result didn't go their way.
Despite having opportunities to save the match and even go for a victory, Indian batters crashed, barring Yashasvi Jaiswal, who kept on fighting till the end.
Not just this, with the exception of Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian bowlers struggled to keep Australia batters in check, who posted a formidable total of 474 runs. In response, India's batters yet again disappoint. Only Yashasvi Jaiswal (82), Nitish Kumar Reddy (114), and Washington Sundar (50) chipped in, leaving the Rohit Sharma-led side with a first-innings deficit of 105 runs after scoring 369.
Rohit Sharma left gutted with India's painful defeat in MCG Test
India's bowlers made a strong start in Australia's second innings, reducing them to 91/6. But Australia's tail wagged when they need them the most and propelled them to a respectable 234 runs, setting a challenging target of 340 runs for India.
India's chase was marred by a dismal batting display. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal (84) and Rishabh Pant (30) no other batter managed to reach double figures. Despite a wicketless session after lunch, India ultimately succumbed to Australia.
Meanwhile, in the post-match presentation, captain Rohit said that they entered the match with the intention of winning and fought hard throughout. However, he also admitted that they failed to capitalize on crucial opportunities.
"It is pretty disappointing. It's not that we went in with the intent of giving up the fight. We wanted to fight till the end, and unfortunately, we couldn't do it. It'll be tough to assess just the last two sessions. If you look at the overall Test match, we had our chances, but we didn't take them. We had Australia 90 for 6," Rohit said in the post-match presentation.
"We know things can get tough, but we want to play tough cricket from hard situations. I don't want to look at one situation. We were not good enough. I went back to my room and thought about what else we could have done as a team, but we threw everything we had, but they fought hard, especially that last-wicket partnership, which probably cost us the game there," he added.
However, Rohit also accepted that India batters failed to give a solid foundation for chasing the target. Meanwhile, he didn't forget to acknowledge centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy's superlative show which also remained the highlight of the match.
"We knew 340 wasn't going to be easy. We tried to set a platform and keep wickets in hand for the last two sessions, but they bowled perfectly as well. We wanted to go for the target, but we didn't set the platform from our side. There are ways to win games and we fell short in finding ways to win games. [On NKR:] He's coming here for the first time, these conditions can get really tough, but he showed great character, solid technique as well. He's got everything to be successful at this level, I hope he goes from strength to strength, and he's got all the backing from the team as well," Rohit concluded.
India's WTC final prospects take a hit
With this defeat, India's hopes of reaching the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final suffered a big setback. This loss leaves India trailing 1-2 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series with just one Test remaining. The defeat has impacted India's position in the WTC standings, dropping their points percentage to 52.78. In contrast, Australia consolidated their position in second place with a points percentage of 60.71. Earlier, on December 29, South Africa became the first team to qualify for the WTC final after beating Pakistan by 2 wickets in the Centurion Test.