After India's 209-run loss to Australia in the 2023 World Test Championship final at the Kennington Oval in London, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra stated that India has to start playing on better pitches at home.
India was dominated by Australia throughout the match. The Pat Cummins-led side was put into bat by India captain Rohit Sharma and they posted 469 runs with centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith.
In reply, India lost their first four wickets fairly early, but then half-centuries from Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur took India to 296 runs. With a 173-run lead, Australia damaged Indian hopes further by putting up 270/8d and set India 444 runs to win.
However, the total was too much for the Indian side, which folded for 234 runs and lost the final by 209 runs.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra claimed that because India is accustomed to playing at home on rank-turners, the games don't last the entire duration. India has now lost both the WTC finals it has played- in 2021 to New Zealand and now in 2023 to Australia.
“The difficult pitches we make in India - it is a huge reason, that we are now playing on rank turners in India. The matches get over in 1.5 to 2.5 days. The match doesn't go to the fifth day at all. If it goes to the fifth day, it means it will be a draw,” said Chopra on in YouTube channel.
He continued by saying that if your batters don't gain confidence by making big scores, winning matches is not everything and that this practice has been going on for too long. India won the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia 2-1 at home, but they were unable to repeat that success in the WTC Final in England.
"When you play on such pitches, you win the match, and blow away the opposing team, but your batters also don't score runs. It has gone on for too long. All of us are okay with that. Why are we okay? Why are we happy with winning matches on such pitches? Winning matches is not everything,” Chopra added.
Chopra said India needs to start playing on better pitches at home and help their batters gain confidence so that they can perform in crunch matches like the WTC Final.
“I am asking how will you get the confidence. You will not get confidence at all if you don't score runs and you will get confidence at home only. This game is about confidence. In my opinion, we need to start playing on better pitches,” said Chopra.
India will now travel to the Caribbean where they will face the West Indies in two Tests, three ODIs, and five T20Is.
