Decoding Why Team India Lost the WTC Final in 2021?

image-liirb6dbNew Zealand won the WTC final in 2021 [Twitter]

In recent times, India has done well in the ICC tournaments, but have faltered when they needed to capitalise on the momentum.

Be it the 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final against the West Indies, or the famous 2019 World Cup semis against New Zealand. When ICC introduced the new World Test Championship, in order to cater the audience who love Test cricket, India were expected to do well in the longest format, and so they did.

Under Virat Kohli's supreme leadership, Team India reached the finals of the WTC, but once again faltered when it mattered the most. In a rain-curtailed game against New Zealand, India couldn't held their nerves and lost the match by 8-wickets to lose yet another final.

They have once again reached the WTC final, and this time will face their nemesis - Australia on June 7. However, India need to learn from their mistakes which were made in the WTC finals of 2021.

Why did India lose the WTC Final in 2021?

Selection gamble failed

In a strange decision, Virat Kohli and the Indian side announced their playing XI a day before the match commenced. It shocked everyone and it gave the New Zealand team a day extra to prepare for what was about to come.

It was raining in Southampton and the weather suited the seam bowlers. But for some reason, India went ahead with the combination of 3 pacers and 2 spinners. Experts argued that India should have dropped R Ashwin in place of Mohammed Siraj, and that would have given India a 4-member pace attack to utilise the conditions.

Ashwin bowled his heart out in the WTC final, but New Zealand countered him brilliantly as they raced away to a 8-wicket win.


Failed to capitalise on good start

In both the innings of the Test match, the Indian openers - Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. They added 62 runs for the opening wicket in the first innings, and despite gritty knocks from Kohli and Rahane, India failed to put up a strong total on the board.

Similarly, when the batting conditions got better in the second innings, Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee ripped through India's top-order and they once again failed with the bat in hand.

Unlucky with the ball

With the batting faltering, India needed something special from their bowlers, and unfortunately that didn't happen. With the new ball, Mohammad Shami was almost unplayable, but the luck was not with him. He managed to beat the outside-edge several times, but the wicket just didn't came at the right time for the speedster.

Similarly, R Ashwin, who's selection was heavily criticised, bowled his heart out, but just couldn't get the breakthroughs when needed.

Weather not helping out India

Now technically you really can't blame the weather, but it really played against India. Unfortunately, India lost the toss and were put into bat by Williamson. The weather was cloudy and that heavily favoured the Kiwis as they dismissed India for a paltry total.

But when New Zealand came out to bat, the surface got better for batting and they capitalised it to perfection.