WTC Final 2023: 'Never going to be happy', India coach Dravid slams lack of preparation after 209-run defeat

Head coach Rahul Dravid rued the lack of preparation going into the ICC World Test Championship Final as India ended up suffering a 209-run thrashing at the hands of Australia at The Oval on Sunday.

A majority of the Indian team was busy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that concluded on 28 May, with players arriving in batches depending on how far their respective franchises reached in the 16th edition of the cash-rich T20 league. Only Cheteshwar Pujara had been in England for an extended period of time, captaining Sussex in the County Championship.

As a result, the Indian players barely got time to shift to the five-day format from T20s and did not play any practice matches in the build-up to the final, which might have had some impact on their sub-par performance in the match.

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“I am never going to be happy with the prep as a coach, but that’s a reality I’m faced with…we are faced with. Schedules are so cramped and tight. When you’ve been playing international cricket, if you’re here three weeks before the tour and play two side games, you’re going to be better prepared,” Dravid said while speaking to former India teammates Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh on Star Sports after India’s defeat on the final day.

“We don’t have that, got to do what we can, but no excuses, no complaints. I want to congratulate Australia. They played better than us for five days. We don’t need to make excuses, we need to look at ourselves, see what we can get better at, what we can improve on, and that’s a constant effort,” added Dravid.

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In contrast, a majority of the Australian players chose to skip the IPL, with only two of them — Delhi Capitals opener David Warner and Mumbai Indians all-rounder Cameron Green — showing up in the tournament. Many of these players chose to prepare for the marquee clash as well as the Ashes by playing in the County Championship instead, including Steve Smith who played under Pujara’s captaincy at Sussex.

In Photos: Australia bundled India out for 234 to win WTC Final by 209 runs

Dravid also rued India letting Australia off the hook with the ball after choosing to field in the first two days of the one-off clash. Australia lost the wicket of Usman Khawaja early and were 76/3 with Warner and Marnus Labuschagne back in the hut when Travis Head and Steve Smith joined forces and stitched together a game-changing partnership that would help Australia post a match-winning total of 469.

“It wasn’t a 469 wicket. On the first day, last session, conceding 157 was disappointing. We knew the lines and lengths we needed to bowl; the lengths weren’t bad, but we went wide with our lines, gave a lot of room to Travis Head, he capitalised and we fell behind,” the ex-India captain added.

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