WTC Final: Sourav Ganguly questions coach Rahul Dravid on falling average of Indian batters

India coach Rahul Dravid defended the batters after former India skipper Sourav Ganguly grilled post-India's 209-run loss in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia. This is India's second consecutive loss in the WTC Finals. They had lost the previous WTC Final in 2021 against New Zealand.

Ganguly informed Dravid that the batting average of the Indian batters has fallen in the last couple of years and that the batting order needs a rework. Dravid, however, said that the fall in average is due to the result-oriented nature of pitches across the world and the competitiveness of the World Test Championship.

“Our top-5 is quite experienced. These players will be considered legends; the same boys won the series in Australia, the same boys won in England as well. They are good players. But I accept, and I think they will as well, that they didn't do justice to the high standards that they've set for themselves,” said Dravid to Ganguly during a chat on Star Sports.

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Dravid further explained that some of the wickets India batted on have been quite challenging and that every match in the WTC cycle is important, hence the dip in averages.

"We are working on it. Some of the wickets have been quite challenging. This was a good wicket, I admit, but there were many conditions which weren't quite good for batting. In the WTC cycle, every match is important. We can't play for draw anymore. We have difficult wickets in India, and result-oriented wickets are there outside India as well. So, all players have taken a hit on their averages, it's not just our players.

“But yes, we know that we need to score runs on the board to give our bowlers a chance. That's what we used to do,” added the coach.

India were asked to chase a target of 444 runs to win the WTC Final after Australia declared their innings on 270/8 on day 4. India did well to end the penultimate day on 164/3, needing 280 runs on day 5 with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane on the crease. Australia, however, struck early on the final day as Scott Boland took out Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in the space of three balls.

India could never recover from that and folded out for 234 runs in their second innings with Nathan Lyon claiming four wickets.

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