India are in deep trouble in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship against Australia as the batters are struggling to cope with the Australian pacers at The Oval in London. The top-order of Rohit Sharma (15), Shubman Gill (13), Cheteshwar Pujara (14) and Virat Kohli (14) all departed in the span of less than 20 overs after Australia posted a mammoth 469 in their first innings.
Captain Rohit, who was already struggling for form in white-ball cricket before coming into the WTC Final, was the first to depart as his Aussie counterpart Pat Cummins trapped him LBW with an incoming delivery.
Gill followed soon as he shouldered arms to another incoming delivery from Scott Boland and saw the ball hit the off-stump.
Pujara, who has been playing County cricket in England for the past couple of years and scored heaps of runs for Sussex in these conditions, got out just like Gill as he tried to leave a delivery from Cameron Green and saw his off-stump light up.
Then came the big wicket of King Kohli as Mitchell Starc bowled a quick short delivery which bounced more than the former skipper anticipated. The ball hit Kohli's glove and lobbed up towards Steve Smith at second slip who leapt in the air to grab a sharp catch.
Lack of Test match practice hurting Team India
One of the biggest reasons for India's failure to deal with the Aussie pacers on a green surface is the lack of Test match practice.
India last played a Test match in March against the same opposition in Ahmedabad. The Indian Premier League followed soon after the end of the Border-Gavaskar Series earlier this year.
The batters played nearly two months of T20 cricket before coming into the WTC Final so a performance like this was probably inevitable.
No Practice Match
The Indian team management has never been a fan of playing practice matches on overseas tours, whereas sides like England and Australia do the complete opposite.
While it is true that none of the international teams play warm-up games to prepare for just one Test in overseas conditions, better scheduling of the IPL 2023 could have given time for the Indians to get ready for the WTC final much better.
Barring Pujara, none of the other top-order Indian batters got ready for the WTC Final by playing or even practicing consistently in seaming conditions.
Indian top-order's averages in England
Rohit Sharma - 40.08
Virat Kohli - 32.71
Cheteshwar Pujara - 29.06
Shubman Gill - 14.00
The averages of the Indian top-order in England is not bad but it doesn't induce much confidence either. Barring Gill, who has only played 3 Tests in the UK, the remaining have toured England at least once before this but they still have had their fair share of struggles in the country.
Tough for India to comeback
To say that it will be tough for India to stage a comeback from 71 for 4 will be an understatement. India were 398 behind Australia at the time of Kohli's dismissal with Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease.
Rahane is making a comeback in the Test team after almost two years while Jadeja showed good form in IPL 2023 but that was in white-ball cricket. With only KS Bharat and all-rounder Shardul Thakur to follow before the tail-enders, India are staring down the barrel and probably another heartbreak in a WTC Final for the second time in as many years.
