Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has rated the Team India players who were part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final based on their performance. India, who had a great journey on the road to the WTC final, failed to win the final match against New Zealand.
The match saw Cheteshwar Pujara not coming good with the bat, Jasprit Bumrah going wicket-less in the entire match, and Virat Kohli not stepping up when needed the most. There were high hopes from Kohli in the second innings when the team was looking to get into a safe position on the reserve day. But the India captain was once again dismissed by Kyle Jamieson cheaply.
"Virat Kohli 5/10 for the simple reason that the first innings was good but more was expected from him in the second innings. You will compare Kohli with Kane, and Kane did the job in both innings," he said.
"Bumrah is just 3/10. There was a catch dropped off his bowling in the 2nd innings but nothing like that happened in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah going wicketless in a Test match, it doesn't happen very often but it happened in this match," Chopra added on his Youtube channel.
Indian openers, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma had done a decent job in the first innings, but they couldn't capitalize on the start. Chopra gave Rohit 6 out of 10, while Gill got 4 for his batting.
"I will give Rohit 6/10. He got starts in both innings. I will say the glass is half full because Rohit saw off the new ball in both innings, the most difficult thing in SENA countries. He was opening for the first time in Test cricket in England, do not ever underestimate what Rohit Sharma has done," he said.
"Shubman Gill helped Rohit Sharma in the first innings but got out early in the second innings. Just 4/10, I was thinking 3 or 3.5 but four because he took a good catch of Ross Taylor diving to his right," Chopra further said.
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Pujara was nowhere near his best in the match and he scored only 8 & 15 in both innings. In the second innings, a typical knock of the Saurashtra batsman could have reduced New Zealand's chances of winning.
"Cheteshwar Pujara, one he dropped a catch in the slips, not that it would have made a difference to the match. His batting in both innings, you expect more runs from Cheteshwar. In this game, I am going 2/10," he said.
Chopra feels Ajinkya Rahane didn't look good in the second innings, although he got out in an unfortunate way. He is not impressed with the performances of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja as well.
"Ajinkya Rahane did score 49 runs in the first innings. He got out playing a bad shot. You can say that he was unfortunate in the second innings but he never looked comfortable. I have given him 5/10.
"Pant is also 5/10. He scored 41 runs in the 2nd innings but the most promising student is also going to get scolded. The way he got out, the careless and carefree debate will always be there. I was expecting more from Pant.
"Jadeja 3/10. You are batting at No.7. There was more expectation from your batting in both innings, more so in the 2nd innings. You took one wicket while bowling, there was more expectation of wickets as well in the second innings," he said.
R Ashwin gave India hope of win with two wickets in the second innings, but it was short-lived with Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor putting on an unbeaten partnership, chasing a small target of 139 runs.
"Ravichandran Ashwin 6/10. He did okay with the ball. He broke the opening partnership in the first innings, took two wickets in the second innings, the two wickets we got. He scored 21 runs in the 1st innings but played a bad shot in the 2nd innings," Chopra said.
Mohammad Shami got the best rating by Chopra for his superb bowling display in the first innings, while Ishant Sharma was also better than the other fast bowlers for the ex-India cricketer.
"Shami gets 7/10. Shami bowled well, he was the one to bring you back in the match. He took four wickets and in a good fashion. Ishant Sharma gets 6/10. I expected more from him in the 2nd innings, I thought he was phenomenal in the first innings," he said.
