Analysing WTC Final Debacle: Decoding The Culprit For India - Bowlers Or Batters? Insights From Last 5 Years

India once again failed to rise to the occasion in the World Test Championship final (WTC) against Australia as the Rohit Sharma-led side succumbed under pressure on the last day of the Test played at the Kennington Oval, London. Needing 280 to win on the final day, India hoped to pull off a miracle with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane at the crease. Both Kohli and Rahane were dismissed playing at a ball they should have left as India lost seven wickets in one session to hand Australia a 209-run win in the WTC final.

While the decision to bowl first on a wicket that had a fair bit of help for the faster bowlers can be debated but having already made that decision, India conceded 157 runs and went wicketless in the final session of play on the first day - way too many in any session of a Test match, let alone on a wicket that was helping the likes of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Umesh Yadav.

The decision to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin was baffling, to say the least, even when the conditions were overcast on the first morning of the Test. The weather forecast these days are quite reliable and it was out there in the open that it is going to be hot and humid for the next four days with hardly any chance of rain. India should have considered that before leaving out the No.1 bowler in Test cricket, although the fact remains that Ashwin should have played irrespective of weather conditions. After all, you don't drop batters based on their overseas record or weather conditions for that matter.

India possibly picked a team for a day, not five days and it wasn't much of a surprise that they were playing the catching-up game for most part of the WTC final.

The batters didn't do any good to their reputation after getting bundled out for 296 in reply to Australia's first innings score of 469. Other than Rahane and Shardul Thakur, nobody really stood up for India. In fact, they did well to save the follow-on after being reduced to 152 for 6 on the second day. On more than one occasion in the past couple of years, the tail has bailed India out of trouble with very little contribution coming from the top order.

In the last 27 Tests that India have played in the past five years outside the sub-continent, they have won 10 and lost 14 with 3 yielding no results. The bowlers had played a significant role by dismissing the opposition under 250 on 22 occasions in the 27 Test matches that they have played. In contrast to that, the batters have put on more than 450 runs on only five occasions. And the WTC final was no different.

India's defeat against Australia in the WTC final, not just highlights their poor preparation for the mace owing to the Indian Premier League but also their batting debacle, which has become way too common in recent years. The batting average of the entire top and middle order is under 50 - a rare occurrence in Indian cricket. If it wasn't because of the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Jadeja and Ashwin, India probably would not have qualified for the final in successive years.

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar while trying to delve into India's batting woes had pointed out the keenness of some of these players to play everything on the front foot and hardly make use of their backfoot play.

"One technical observation I have of most Indian batters, is the keenness to get onto the front foot, to even short of length balls. These are balls Steve Smith, Kane Williamson & Joe Root playback to," he revealed.

In trying to elucidate his point, Manjrekar further pointed out that Steve Smith averages 60.04 in Test cricket, Kane Williamson 54.80, and Joe Root 50.24 - all very good backfoot players. The problem for India is possibly an open secret now and it isn't the bowlers by any means - whether you play Ashwin or not.