WTC Final: Day 5 Post-match Press Conference India Transcript

[Reporter:]

Rohit, what went wrong?

[Rohit Sharma:]

It's Test cricket, right? So, I mean, if you look at, you know, the game is won over the period of five days. Having won the toss, putting them in, I thought, you know, after the first session, we thought we have a good chance of getting them out quickly. But two of their batters - Smith and Head particularly played well - we were slightly away from our plans. We didn't execute what we should have on that pitch because there was a lot of assistance in the pitch and we failed to do that and that can happen and then obviously, we were 170 - 60 or 70 runs behind after the first innings. Then in the second innings, obviously you want to get them out again as quickly as possible because the wicket honestly stayed pretty good all five days. That was one of the reasons for us to consider batting last because we thought the wicket will not change too much. In fact, it will get better and better - but obviously a lot of the things that we spoke of - how we want to bowl, how we want to bat, we didn't actually do that. That's probably the reason we were very much behind in the game all four days.

[Reporter:]

Rohit, nowadays in Test cricket, if you get behind in the first innings it gets difficult to stabilise – thinking of this, is the first innings game much important - Of course, it is for the second inning, but if we had gone close to the score in the first inning, would the pressure of the fourth inning have been reduced?

[Rohit Sharma:]

Yes, it could have been. If we had reached near the target, they had set in the first innings, if they had got less of a lead, then the game could have gone anywhere. We didn't bat that well in the first innings. We were five down for 150 runs. After that Shardul and Ajinkya Rahane did a good batting job, and we were trying to get closer to their target. But again, we were behind by 170 runs. So, when you are behind, the opposition has the advantage. In the second innings, we tried our best to attack and try to get them out as soon as possible. Last time when we played here, we applied the same plan against England. Obviously, the opposition is different. But our plan was not successful. They scored around 250 in the second innings and gave us a target of almost 450. We were hopeful that we could score those runs. As I said, the wicket was good. Nothing much was happening in the wicket. What we normally expect on day 5 or 4 - the wicket played well. We didn't bat well. We lost a lot of shots in the morning. Because of this, we were unable to reach the target. And maybe that’s why we couldn't reach the target.

[Reporter:[

Rohit, two best teams played in the final. And just for one or two sessions, India couldn't win or India could not come close to the win because the margin is big. So, would you advocate to have three matches final or such a big tournament?

[Rohit Sharma:]

I would love that. But is there time for that? That's the big question. But honestly, in a big event like this, you need to have fair opportunities to both the teams. You know, a three-match series would be nice, but it's about finding that window where it can be fit in. But I would love to have - in an event like this, you work hard for two years and then you have only one shot at it. So, it's not really - you cannot get into that momentum that you need in Test cricket. You know, Test cricket is all about finding that rhythm, finding that momentum as well. So, I think, yeah if in the next cycle, if it is possible, three match series would be ideal.

[Reporter:]

A couple of things, if you don't mind. One is about you said that some of the batters played loose shots. I don't know whether you'll include your second inning shot as a loose shot also, if you don't mind talking about that. This is the same set of batting line-up that played in WTC 2021 final against New Zealand, similar sort of thing. You had to bat out on day six in the morning and India folded and then New Zealand took over and won the match. Here again, it is the same thing.

Is it a little concerning that experienced batters sometimes losing this kind of concentration? What could be done? How do you make sure that next time it doesn't happen?

And the second thing is about playing a match like this immediately after IPL. For bowlers, it's very difficult, right, Shami and Siraj, you can't blame them. 469 was what Australia made in the first innings and they just went away from maybe possibly after that first innings. Is there something that can be done to preserve the bowlers, to have them in the right shape for such an important match?

[Rohit Sharma:]

If I can remember your first part of the question. Yeah, look, I mean, as you said, there are a lot of experienced players in the team. Now we have played two finals. You cannot really teach them how to bat in the little time that you have before the game. It's all about getting yourself ready and however you can do that, it is completely up to you. That is what experience is all about. But yeah, I mean, look, I don't want to be too critical about it - the reason I say that is because when we were here last time, a lot of the senior batters actually put their hand up and got us ahead in the series. I mean, things like this can happen. We've had a really good outing in the last two years. Whether we played in Australia, we played in England, but yeah, like you said, this one-off game, if you're mentally not there, you can lose a game. You know, and that is exactly what happened. We honestly wanted to give our best shot. Everybody prepared really well in the little time that we had, that is all you can do. And that is all you can hope for, whatever time you have in hand. And prepare well and get ready for the game. But yeah, when you have in your top six, you know, five or six batters who have quite experience played in these conditions before and couldn't go on to get big runs and that is what probably cost us the game.

What happened in the opposition camp is - two of their batters got big runs and got them in the position where they could fight. And that is what was required from our side as well. A couple of batters putting their hand up and getting those big runs and getting close to their target. That really didn't happen.

Concentration, I mean look, when certain guys play in a certain way, I don't think it's a lapse of concentration. Sometimes, you know, you want to be ahead of the game, you want to take the bowlers on. Test cricket is played in a different way these days now. And that's how we want to play as well. And it was a good pitch. You could play the shots that you want to.

Of course, keeping in mind, you know, if somebody is bowling a really good spell, you try and respect that. But otherwise, you have to try and do something different just to break the bowler's rhythm. And that is what Travis Head did. He came and played some shots. And he really got them out of that discomfort zone where after the lunch - we got wicket in the second over first ball. We really thought we were, you know, quite in the game and then the way Travis Head came and played, he completely took the game away from us. And that is what we wanted to do as well. When you know the pitch is good, sometimes you have to let your instinct take those calls in the middle. And yeah, I don't think it was concentration lapse or anything like that. It's just, sometimes guys feel that they're comfortable playing certain shot and they're allowed to go and play those shots.

And your second part, obviously - Ideally, yes, event like this, final like this, you need a lot of time to prepare yourself and that is what we did in the last time when we were here in England. We had good 25-30 days to prepare ourselves. And you saw the result. We were 2-1 up until that game got called off. Yeah, ideally, we would want to have good time in hand to prepare, give enough rest to the bowlers. Sometimes it can be tough because playing T20 cricket, you completely bowl different lengths, different lines, lot of change-ups. And then Test cricket obviously requires a lot of discipline, hitting that area consistently and challenging the batsmen - but again you know Shami, Siraj, Umesh they all are experienced, they obviously know how to prepare themselves and get ready for a game like this. But in an ideal scenario, yes, I would prefer if we have 20, 25 days to prepare for a game like this.

[Reporter:]

Rohit, now that the World Test Championship has been around for a few years, does it also give you a chance to kind of stop and reflect on where the team is? And you spoke about the next cycle, like you do in other forms, right? You build a team for the next World Cup. Do you think you can do that with this team as well, considering a lot of people are on the wrong side of 30, if there is.

[Rohit Sharma:]

Yeah. You, I mean, obviously, any tournament you play, you start looking at what possibly you can do moving ahead. Honestly, the game just got over. We haven't really given too much thought to about what we want to do in the future. Obviously, there will be some talks around it and we'll see whatever is required and whatever is best, whatever the brand of cricket we want to play in the next two years. And who are the guys who can do that role for us? That is the question that we need to find answers for. And there are a lot of guys, there are a lot of players who are doing really well in our domestic cricket as well. It's just about finding them and giving them that space, enough time to go forward and do the job for us. It's all about that. The focus will be obviously on that, but also, I want to see where the next World Test Championship final is being played as well. That depends where we play. Based on that, we will decide what sort of players we want to get ready and what kind of cricket we want to play.

[Reporter:]

If you can talk about the scheduling as well, as things stand, the final will always be held after the IPL.

So, can it be held right after the finals? Right after the IPL final. That was the case. Why cannot it be March? That's what I want to know from you.

[Rohit Sharma:]

Yeah, I know. I mean, June is not the only month we should play the finals. It can be played any time of the year. And anywhere in the world, not just in England. It can be played anywhere in the world.

[Reporter:]

Hi, Rohit, now we have another ICC tournament coming up in India, we have another loss in the final here, does it weigh on the team? What do you think of these losses? Does it put any pressure on you guys going into that tournament later in the year?

[Rohit Sharma:]

No, obviously, look, it is disappointing to not come out on top, giving a shot at a couple of finals now in World Test Championship. You get dejected. There is no doubt about it. It does disappoint not just me, but I'm sure everyone in the changing room is disappointed. Because you work really hard for it. And then finally, to not see the result that you want to, it can be very disheartening. And that is what everyone's feeling right now. But I mean, the sport is all about picking yourself up and getting ready for the next big event that you have. Because, you know, of course you can dwell on what went wrong, what you can do. You know, there are a lot of things that we as a team we are trying, playing with different combination, certain guys in the squad as well. But yeah, it is disappointing, but you got to keep picking yourself and try and get ready for the next one. Because if you keep thinking about that, it's not going to help you move forward. And you don't want to be just lagging behind. And you, obviously, in life, you want to move forward and win games. And for me, winning championship is the most important thing rather than winning any series.

So, yeah, I'm certainly very disappointed but you know, I've got to keep the guys motivated make sure There's not too much negativity around in the changing room. And keep the atmosphere nice and healthy for the next event that we have.

[Reporter:]

[Speaking in Hindi]

Rohit, this is an extension of the same question. When there is so much expectation from Indian cricket, you have been watching since 2007, you won the first World Cup in T20. The pressure of expectations and all the experts, all say that if you don't see one thing, maybe such a big tournament, people talk so much, there is a build-up, players can't play that freely. So, this thing happened in India after 3-4 months, so there will be more hype in India for two tournaments. So, how will you deal with this as a captain? How will you tell the boys? Because you have seen everything from ups and downs.

[Rohit Sharma:]

Absolutely. One thing that they asked is lapse of concentration. It's not a lapse of concentration. We have told the boys to play freely. And if it seems so, then hit. It's a simple message. Whether it's Test cricket, T20 cricket or one day cricket, we don't want to play under pressure. If you look at the innings, the way Gil and I started in the second innings, our entire effort was to hit and play and put pressure on them. That's why we were 60 runs in 10 overs. But if you play with that mindset, chances are you'll get out. Then the comments and the people who talk about lapse of concentration. There is no lapse of concentration. It's just that we want to play in a different way. We want to do something different. Obviously, we have played so many ICC tournaments and have not won yet. So, our effort is to play in a different way and try to do something different.

When the World Cup will be held in October, we will try to play in a different way in October when the World Cup takes place. We will try to give people freedom and not think that we have to win this or that match. We have been thinking that this match is important, this event is important and things are not happening. So obviously We will have to think differently and do things differently. Our message and focus will be on trying to do something different.

[Reporter:]

Rohit, the Cameron Green catch yesterday, you looked visibly quite disappointed and Shubman tweeted, how do you reflect on that moment now?

[Rohit Sharma:]

I just felt disappointed with - not enough. I mean, the third umpire should have seen a little more replays, a little more of, you know, how the catch has been held. I think it was three or four times he saw and he was convinced with it. It's not about whether it was given out or not out, you need to have a proper and clear information about anything. It's just not about the catch, it can be about anything. That was, that is something that I was a little disappointed with - the decision was made quite quickly. When a catch like that has been taken, you need to be more than 100% sure because it's a final and we were at that important stage of the game as well. So that was to me a little disappointing. And more camera angles should have been shown. There was only one or two camera angles that were shown. We've got more angles in IPL. We've got 10 different angles in IPL. I don't know why in a world event like this, there was no ultra motion that was seen or any kind of zoomed image was seen. That is what I was a little disappointed with.