Former India opener Aakash Chopra criticised India’s lacklustre performance in the final of the 2023 ICC World Test Championship (WTC). Australia defeated India by 209 runs on the final day of the one-off Test in London’s Oval. India underperformed in the batting and bowling departments, conceding and scoring above-par totals, respectively. Notably, this was their second consecutive loss in the WTC final.
While discussing India’s loss, the former cricketer noted that their batting has been problematic. One could argue that it is not the bowlers’ fault but rather the batters’. According to Chopra, the batters could have scored 400 runs if they had batted first after winning the draw.
“We recognise the source of the problem. Bowling is not the issue. When this match is displayed, there will be a minor recency bias. You will say that you surrendered 470 runs, and how are you saying that it is the batters’ fault and not the bowlers’? What can the bat do? Chopra stated on his YouTube channel that the batting team will achieve 400 runs and bat first if they win the toss.
India has had a successful test record over the past five years. Aakash Chopra
The 45-year-old acknowledged India’s respectable Test record outside of Asia over the past five years. India has won 10 of the 27 Tests played outside of Asia.
“I’ll just give you a statistic and ask you to consider it objectively. India has played 27 Tests outside of Asia over the past five years, winning 10, losing 14, and drawing three. Ten victories out of twenty-seven is not a terrible record considering that we never used to win,” he added.
Chopra then emphasised that Indian batsmen have infrequently amassed significant totals. In 27 Test matches, India batted nearly 50 times but scored 400 runs or more only five times, according to the 45-year-old. “How frequently have Indian batters scored over 400 runs?” If we consider 27 matches, we have batted close to 50 times, but only five times have we scored more than 400 runs.
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