WTC Final 2023: It wasn’t a 469-run wicket – Rahul Dravid after loss against Australia

Indian head coach Rahul Dravid admitted it wasn’t a 469-run first innings wicket after losing the World Test Championship final against Australia by a huge margin of 209 runs at the Oval on Sunday. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first in overcast conditions.

In fact, India had Australia under the cosh at 73-3 but Travis Head and Steve Smith changed the course of the game with their huge alliance. Head took the attack against the Indian bowlers from the get-go whereas Smith played an anchor role.

India conceded 97 runs in the second session of the opening day and then Smith and Head took the game away from them after scoring 157 runs in the final session. Australia ended the opening day at 327-3 and Dravid feels the final two sessions led to their downfall.

The Indian bowlers could not hit the right line and length and they were taken to the cleaners by Head and Smith, as the duo added 285 runs. Dravid feels it could have been a different story if they had restricted Australia to around 300 and they conceded an above-par score in the first essay.

“It wasn’t a 469 wicket,” Dravid told Star Sports. “On the first day, last session, conceding 157 [for no wicket] was disappointing. We knew the lines and lengths we needed to bowl; the lengths weren’t bad, but we went wide with our lines, gave a lot of room to Travis Head, he capitalized and we fell behind.”

Furthermore, Dravid reckons they could have been a bit more careful in their shot-making on the penultimate day of the Test match. Rohit was dismissed while trying to play the sweep shot whereas Pujara was dismissed when he tried to play the uppercut.

“Yesterday I felt on this wicket, we played three-four shots, we could’ve been a bit careful,” Dravid said. “It was tough, [but] there was hope. However far behind you are, you always fight. In the two years, we’ve had situations where we’ve been behind but have made comebacks.

Dravid also lauded his team for bouncing back with the bat after Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur scored 89 and 51 runs respectively in the first innings.

The former Indian skipper expressed his disappointment as India’s wait to end their ICC title woes continued. India will now tour West Indies in July.