E2BET: Rahul Dravid : Team India’s mammoth loss to Australia in the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) Final brought upon a lot of criticism over preparation and execution. One of the key moments of the game occurred when skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first on a green top with a heavy cloud cover.
Rahul Dravid : The Men in Blue, playing with four seamers, had to make the most of the new ball at The Oval, and take advantage of the first couple of sessions. Things went according to plan initially as Usman Khawaja was dismissed for a duck in the fourth over.
Rahul Dravid : But the Indian seamers were all over the place after that, allowing David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne to put on a 69-run partnership for the second wicket. The Men in Blue clawed their way back by dismissing both batters in quick succession. The game was delicately placed at 76-3 in the 25th over, but Steve Smith and Travis Head snatched the game away from India with a massive 285-run partnership.
Rahul Dravid : Australia ended with 469 runs in the first innings, while India had to play catch-up after falling short by 173 runs.
Rahul Dravid : The Men in Blue eventually fell short by 209 runs in the final innings to lose the WTC Final for the second time in a row. After the loss, Rohit Sharma had rued the bowlers’ execution after the first session, allowing Australia to claw their way back into the game and run away with it.
“I thought we started well with winning the toss, putting them to bat in those conditions. We bowled well in the first session and then we let ourselves down with how we bowled,” Sharma said after the match (via Sportstar).
Rahul Dravid : The then-India head coach Rahul Dravid had also backed the skipper’s call to bowl first, considering that overcast conditions were on show on Day 1.
“It wasn’t a 469 wicket. 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 capitalised and we fell behind,” Dravid said after Team India’s loss (via ESPN Cricinfo).
“In the [first] morning, there was a lot of grass, the overhead conditions were cloudy and, in England, we felt batting gets easier – even on the fourth and fifth day, there wasn’t much happening. Lot of teams win the toss and field. At 70 [76] for 3, we felt it was a good decision, but the complexion of the game changed in the two sessions after that,” he added.
Rahul Dravid : India failed to contain both Travis Head and Steve Smith on Day 1 as they both went on to score memorable hundreds. The bowlers backed their batters’ exploits to pick up 20 wickets and help Australia win the WTC for the first time.
Rahul Dravid : Temba Bavuma also chose to bowl first under similar circumstances in 2025 WTC Final against Australia
The South African bowling and fielding were on point as they maximized the new ball and the cloud cover to reduce Australia to 67-4 in the first session on Day 1 of the WTC 2025 Final.
