Australia defeated us in every department in WTC Final: Kirti Azad

Former India cricketer Kirti Azad reckoned that the Pat Cummins-led Australia defeated Team India in every department in the recent ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval in London. Rohit Sharma and Co. suffered a crushing 209-run defeat against Australia on the fifth day of the one-off Test on Sunday, June 11. Notably, this was India's second straight loss in the WTC final.

After winning the toss, India invited Pat Cummins and Co. to bat first. However, their decision backfired as Australia scored a massive 469 runs in the opening innings, thanks to centuries from Travis Head (163 off 174) and Steve Smith (121 off 268). And from here on, India kept lagging behind in the marquee event.

While speaking to Sports Tak, Azad said that Australia defeated India in both departments while their batting and bowling were perfect. He added that Australia's bowlers were absolutely accurate in India's innings as they bundled them out for 234 runs on the final day.

“Australia defeated us in every department. Their bowling and batting were perfect. In the first innings, if we see the Australian bowlers, they were absolutely accurate, they kept bowling on the same line even if they were not getting wickets,” Azad told Sports Tak.

India lost the match in the first innings itself: Azad

The former cricketer went on to say that India lost the match in the opening innings itself as the bowlers got overexcited and failed to maintain their line and lengths. India bowled somewhat better in Australia's second innings, but if they had done so in the first, Rohit and Co. could have won the trophy, according to the 64-year-old. 

“It seemed like our bowlers got overexcited. They couldn't maintain the line and length they should have kept. So we lost the match in the first innings itself. We did bowl a little better in the second innings but if we had bowled well and restricted them to 300-325 in the first innings, the match could have been made because India scored 296 runs,” he added.

He further said that while India bowled well in the second innings, Australia's first-innings lead made the task challenging. He pointed out that with Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli at the crease, India appeared to be on track, but they lost wickets. 

“The bowling was good in the second innings but the first-innings lead was so much, that it didn't seem possible. When Rahane and Kohli were playing, it seemed they could do it, and India have a deep batting lineup as well, but it was unfortunate that they threw away their wickets,” he further added.