WTC Final: Action just a sham after a humiliating defeat? BCCI’s ‘tough decision’ came to light in 5 months

Will BCCI review the performance again?Image Credit source: BCCI

New Delhi: about 7 months ago on 10 November 2022 in Adelaide, Australia India Had to face a crushing defeat by 10 wickets in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup against England. There was a lot of hue and cry after this defeat. There was an unofficial action on the selection committee. Senior players were informally dropped from the T20 squad. But the most important thing happened on January 1, 2023 – performance review.

Australia won the title by defeating India by a huge margin of 209 runs in the final of the World Test Championship on Sunday, 11 January. In this way, India’s wait for the ICC title increased even after 10 years. Question- Will BCCI hold a review meeting again? If she does, what will be her decisions? Will those decisions be implemented properly?

read this also: Dravid told the reasons for the defeat, target on BCCI

Workload management claims in IPL

These questions are being asked because some decisions were taken in the review held on January 1. BCCI President Roger Binny, Secretary Jai Shah, Captain Rohit Sharma, Coach Rahul Dravid and then Chief Selector Chetan Sharma. All of them together did a post-mortem of the performance and took some decisions, the most important of which was the workload management of the players during the IPL. But the same workload management was nowhere to be seen during the IPL and the result showed in the Test Championship final.

In that meeting, the shortlist of 20 players and their workload management were mentioned mainly regarding the ODI World Cup. Obviously, prominent names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja would have been there in this list. During the IPL, it was talked about being in touch with the franchisees for workload management of these players.

read this also: Rohit raised questions on the final after the defeat

Rohit did not listen to himself and BCCI

The question is, was it necessary only for the ODI World Cup? Shouldn’t this management have been done for the Test Championship final before that? The second major reason for these questions is that in the 15-member squad for the final, except Cheteshwar Pujara, the remaining 14 names were part of the IPL for the entire two months.

In this, except KS Bharat, almost every player played all the matches of their respective franchises. Due to this, it was bound to be difficult to stay completely mentally and physically fit and fresh.

This question is not only with BCCI but also with Captain Rohit Sharma. Just before the start of IPL, Rohit himself had said that the players cannot be told not to play matches for their respective teams but they should focus on managing the workload on their own. But did Captain Rohit himself do this? Rohit played the entire 16 matches for Mumbai this season and reached England on 30 May. Only 8 days before the finals. The effect was finally visible in the final.

Also read: What did the BCCI president say after the defeat?

Real review or just eyewash?

Therefore it is imperative to ask whether the BCCI will hold a review meeting again? After all, now even coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma have said that before such a final, 2-3 weeks of preparation and 2-3 practice matches should be given. Will BCCI accept these words of its captain and coach in the coming times? Will the decisions that are made really be implemented? Or will it be just another attempt to hoodwink angry and frustrated fans?