Rohit Sharma | World Test Championship Final 2023 | Day 5 Press Conference | June 11 | #WTC23
VIDEO COURTESY: ICC
Rohit Sharma | World Test Championship Final 2023 | Day 5 Press Conference | June 11 | #WTC23
WTC Final: Day 5 Post-match Press Conference India Transcript
[Reporter:]
Rohit, what went wrong?
[Rohit Sharma:]
It's test cricket, right? So, I mean, if you look at, you know, the game is won over the period of five days. Having won the toss, putting them in, I thought, you know, after the first session, we thought we have a good chance of getting them out quickly. But two of their batters Smith and Head particularly played well - we were slightly away from our plans. We didn't execute what we should have on that pitch because there was a lot of assistance on the pitch and we failed to do that and that can happen and then obviously, we were 170 - 60 or 70 runs behind after the first innings. Then second innings, obviously you want to get them out again as quickly as possible because the wicket honestly stayed pretty good all five days. That was one of the reasons for us to consider batting last because we thought the wicket will not change too much. In fact, it will get better and better - but obviously a lot of the things that we spoke of - how we want to bowl, how we want to bat, we didn't actually do that. That's probably the reason we were very much behind in the game all four days.
[Reporter:]
Rohit, nowadays in Test cricket, if you get behind in the first innings it gets difficult to stabilise – thinking of this, is the first innings game much important - Of course, it is for the second inning, but if we had gone close to the score in the first inning, would the pressure of the fourth inning have been reduced?
[Rohit Sharma:]
Yes, it could have been. If we had reached near the target, they had set in the first inning, if they had got less of a lead, then the game could have gone anywhere. We didn't bat that well in the first
innings. We had 5 wickets in 150 runs. After that Shardul and Ajinkya Rahane did a good batting, and we were trying to get closer to their target. But again, we were behind by 170 runs. So, when you are behind, the opposition has the advantage. In the second innings, we tried our best to attack and try to get them out as soon as possible. Last time when we played here, we applied the same plan against England. Obviously, the opposition is different. But our plan was not successful. They scored around 250 in the second innings and gave us a target of 450. We were hopeful that we could score those runs. As I said, the wicket was good. Nothing much was happening in the wicket. What we normally expect on day 5 or 4 - the wicket played well. We didn't bat well. We lost a lot of shots in the morning. Because of this, we were unable to reach the target. And maybe that’s why we couldn't reach the target.
[Reporter:[
Rohit, two best teams played in the final. And just for one or two sessions, India couldn't win or India could not come close to the win because the margin is big. So, would you advocate to have three matches final or such a big tournament?
[Rohit Sharma:]
I would love that. But is there a time? That's the big question. But honestly, in a big event like this, you need to have fair opportunities to both the teams. You know, a three-match series would be nice, but it's about finding that window where it can be fit in. But I would love to have - in an event like this, you work hard for two years and then you have only one shot at it. So, it's not really - you cannot get into that momentum that you need in Test cricket. You know, Test cricket is all about finding that rhythm, finding that momentum as well. So, I think, yeah if in the next cycle, if it is possible, three match series would be ideal.
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