BCCI President Says Travis Head and Steve Smith Took WTC Final Away from India

While various reasons have been put forth for the shoddy display from the Indian cricket team in the ICC World Test Championship final culminating into an embarrassing defeat, BCCI president Roger Binny thinks the game slipped away from Rohit Sharma’s men on the first day itself.

Binny, a member of India’s 1983 ODI World Cup winning squad, was present at The Oval to watch the final between India and Australia which the latter won in clinical fashion by a massive margin of 209 runs.

Binny reckons that India let go of the game when they allowed Travis Head and Steve Smith build a mammoth partnership for the fourth wicket.

The pair added 285 runs in an excellent recovery after India had landed early blows by getting rid of Australia’s top-three cheaply.

Head went on to score a scintillating 163 off 174 while Smith scored a typical 121 off 268 before Australia were bowled out for 469.

“We lost the game on the first day itself. The big partnership that Australia put on was what really turned the tables in this game. Otherwise, the game was even. If you take away that partnership, the game was totally even,” Binny told news agency ANI.

In reply, India struggled to 296-all out before Australia declared at 270/8 to set a target of 444. Rohit Sharma then stitched two decent partnerships with Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara in what was a promising Indian start.

And then Virat Kohli joined forces with Ajinkya Rahane to drive the chase further giving his team a glimmer of hope.

Everything came crashing down on the fifth morning as Scott Boland and co ran through the batting line-up like a hot knife through butter to have them skittled for 234.

Binny though thinks the players have to keep looking ahead and start gearing up for the ODI World Cup now.

“We have something bigger coming up in the future so we have to keep our spirits up and make sure that we do well in the World Cup and it’s at home. So that is important,” said Binny.