India’s hopes of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final were dashed for the first time in the tournament’s history following a 6-wicket defeat against Australia in the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney on Sunday.
Australia will now face South Africa in the WTC final at Lord’s in June, bringing India’s two-year journey in the championship to an unceremonious end.
Stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah, who was awarded the Player of the Series for his remarkable 32 wickets, could not take the field during Australia’s second innings due to persistent back spasms.
Without their talismanic bowler, India’s attack struggled to defend a modest target of 162 runs, which the hosts chased down in just 27 overs.
Prasidh Krishna (3/65) and Mohammed Siraj (1/69) provided brief moments of hope, but their inconsistent lines and lengths made it easy for Australia’s Usman Khawaja (41), Travis Head (34*), and debutant Beau Webster (39*) to guide the team to victory.
India’s struggled throughout the series stemmed primarily from their lacklustre batting displays.
Six of their ten completed innings failed to cross 200 runs, putting undue pressure on their bowlers. Notable exceptions were innings in Perth (487/6 declared), Melbourne (369), and Brisbane (260), but these were anomalies in an otherwise dismal tour.
Rishabh Pant’s counter-attacking 61 in the second innings of the Sydney Test and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 391 runs over the series provided glimmers of hope. Yet, failures from stalwarts like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom battled technical deficiencies, left India’s batting in disarray.
Jaiswal emerged as India’s leading run-scorer, followed by debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (298 runs) and KL Rahul (276 runs). However, consistent contributions were glaringly absent from the team’s senior players.
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Leadership, selection, and coaching under the radar
The series has raised critical questions about India’s leadership and team management. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s prolonged dips in form, coupled with injuries to key bowlers like Akash Deep and Bumrah, exposed the team’s reliance on a few individuals.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir is also under fire following a string of defeats across formats. Under his tenure, India lost six out of ten Tests this season and an ODI series in Sri Lanka. Gambhir’s assertive style has reportedly created unrest within the dressing room, as seen in abrupt decisions like Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement and Rohit’s self-imposed exclusion.
Gambhir’s handling of players such as Rishabh Pant, who oscillated between caution and aggression, has also been criticised. “Messing with a player’s gameplan isn’t the best way to manage,” noted an anonymous insider, pointing to Pant’s disrupted rhythm during the series.
Bowling concerns add to woes
India’s bowling unit appeared depleted, with Bumrah single-handedly shouldering the burden.
Glenn McGrath succinctly summed up the series, stating, “Had Bumrah not taken 32 wickets, there was no chance that India would have managed a 1-3 margin.”
With Mohammed Siraj taking 36 matches to reach 100 wickets and Harshit Rana lacking experience, India’s pace attack seemed unprepared for the rigours of international cricket.
The spin department, too, suffered, as Ravindra Jadeja prioritised batting, and Washington Sundar struggled on unresponsive pitches.
Despite the disappointments, Jaiswal’s emergence as a batting prodigy and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s all-round potential offer some solace.
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