Indian skipper Rohit Sharma expressed his disappointment on Shubman Gill’s wicket in the second session of Day-4 after India’s loss against Australia in the World Test Championship 2023 final on Sunday. Gill seemed poised for a big inning in India’s fourth-innings chase but was denied a shot at glory following a controversial and widely debated decision on Day-4. Pacer Scott Boland got Gill to edge one at gully and all-rounder Cameron Green dived to his left to complete a one-handed stunner. However, the India opener stood his ground as the on-field umpires referred the matter to the television umpire. Later on, the catch was declared clear leaving Rohit and Gill in a state of disbelief.
‘We didn’t execute our plans right which is why we were behind in the game for 4 days’ – Rohit Sharma
Indian captain, @ImRo45 analyses & shares what #TeamIndia could have done better to be ahead in the Ultimate Test! #WTC23 #Cricket #WTCFinal pic.twitter.com/ByRLcbvKQi
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 12, 2023
“I felt disappointed, third umpire should have seen more replay, the decision was made quickly, especially in a final and more camera angles should have been there, in IPL, there is more than 10 but not in an ICC event,” Rohit said in the post-match conference.
Television replays from multiple angles couldn’t conclusively determine if the catch had been taken cleanly. The ball appeared to have touched the surface before Green got his fingers under it. However, with the soft-signal rule now done away with, the television umpire eventually ruled in favour of Green. Gill stood in disbelief momentarily before trudging slowly off the field of play. After Gill’s dismissal, the Indian team lost the wickets of Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara. India started the Day-5 on Day 5, the Indian team seemed to be going for the target after being at the receiving end for the better part of four days. They did make a comeback with the ball on Day 2 but their batting turned out to be a major disappointment.
India had a bleak opportunity to lift their maiden WTC title with Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli leading the charge with the bat. But, a game-changing over by Scott Boland, which saw him trap Virat for 49 and Ravindra Jadeja for a duck, started India’s downfall. Rahane was dismissed by Mitchell Starc for 46 while Srikar Bharat (23) was dismissed by Nathan Lyon. The Indian batting line-up failed to put up a fight, bundling out for 234 runs in 63.3 overs to hand Australia their first-ever WTC title. Lyon was the pick of the bowlers for Australia, taking 4/41. Boland took 3/46 while Starc got two wickets. Skipper Pat Cummins got one wicket.
