3 lessons India can take from their 2021 loss to New Zealand ahead of WTC final 2023

With IPL 2023 done and dusted, Team India are currently gearing up for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final. Rohit Sharma and Co. will square off against Australia in the summit clash at the Oval from June 7 onwards.

This will be India's second appearance in the WTC final in as many editions. They lost to New Zealand by eight wickets in the final of the 2019-2021 edition in Southampton.

The Indian batters struggled against Kiwi pacers and were blown away by their pace and bounce on a seaming condition. They will try not to repeat the same mistakes when they take the field in a few days' time.

On that note, let's take a look at three lessons India can take from their 2021 loss to New Zealand ahead of the WTC final 2023.

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#1 Team Combination

India went with two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin and three pacers despite the conditions being overcast in Southampton. The move didn't really pay off as Jadeja could only manage to pick up one wicket and was heavily under bowled.

New Zealand, on the other hand, reaped the maximum benefits from the wicket and the condition by playing four seamers. The Blackcaps also used Colin de Grandhomme's medium pace to trouble the Indian batters.

Rohit and Co. will be wary of the same and will look to pick a playing XI that suits the conditions this time around.

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#2 Slip fielding

Slip-catching has been a concern for Team India for a long time. Despite having regulars in Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli at the slips for most of the time, they dropped a few sitters in Southampton against New Zealand.

It will be something fielding coach T Dilip will certainly work on ahead of the all-important final. With the surface in the UK likely to seam and swing, balls are expected to fly off the edge of the bat, and slip fielding will be key to a team's success.

The Indian players were seen going through intense fielding sessions where Dilip focused mainly on slip-catching.

The Asian giants will hope not to repeat the same mistakes they did in the last final and come up with a better fielding effort against a star-studded Aussie lineup.

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#3 Big knock from top-order batters

Team India will play the same top three that played in the last final against New Zealand. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will open the innings, while Pujara will bat at No. 3

The Men in Blue struggled mainly because none of the top-order batters played big knocks to give the team a solid start. As a result, they were bowled out for 217 and 170 runs in the first and second innings, respectively.

Head coach Rahul Dravid knows the advantages of getting a good start in English conditions and will prepare his batting unit accordingly.

While Rohit's form has not been satisfactory, Gill and Pujara have scored plenty of runs in recent times.

Gill had a brilliant IPL season for the Gujarat Titans (GT), scoring 890 runs in 17 matches, including three hundreds. Besides, the youngster has also been in superb form since the start of 2023 and will look to replicate his form in the WTC final.

Pujara also had a strong County season before uniting with the Indian side. He smashed three centuries for Sussex in eight innings.

While the odds are stacked in India's favor, they still will have to go out there and do the right things for five consecutive days to beat the Aussies in the WTC final.

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