“When the World Cup will be held in October, we will try to play in a different way” - Rohit Sharma after WTC final loss

After failing in yet another ICC final, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that the team will have to think and plan in a different manner for the ODI World Cup that will be played at home in October-November.

India went down to Australia by 209 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval on Sunday. Set to chase a massive total of 444, India crumbled in their second innings and folded up for a disappointing 234.

India’s loss extended their wait for an ICC title, which they last won in the form of the Champions Trophy in 2013 when MS Dhoni was captain. The defeat is also a dangerous signal for the side which will host the ODI World Cup in a few months' time.

Speaking at the post-match press conference following India’s loss, Rohit conceded that change is the need of the hour ahead of the upcoming World Cup.

"When the World Cup will be held in October, we will try to play in a different way. 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," he said.

“Our message and focus will be on trying 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,” Rohit added.

With a lot of Indian players on the wrong side of their 30s, talk of transition in the Test team ahead of the next WTC cycle is bound to gather steam.

When asked about plans for the next Test championship, Rohit replied:

"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 what we want to do in the future.

"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?

"I also want to see where the next World Test Championship final is being played as well. Based on that, we will decide what sort of players we want to get ready and what kind of cricket we want to play," he added.

Looking at the squad that was picked for the WTC final, Rohit himself is 36, and so is Ravichandran Ashwin. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are 35, while former skipper Virat Kohli will also turn 35 in November.

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“You cannot really teach them how to bat” - Rohit blames batters for WTC final loss

Reflecting on the WTC final defeat, Rohit opined that the team’s experienced batting outfit ought to have done better. India failed to reach 300 in either innings of the Test. They were bowled out for 296 in the first essay and 234 in the second.

Sharing his thoughts on the team’s twin batting failures at The Oval, Rohit commented:

"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 how you can do that, it is completely up to you. I don't want to be too critical about it - the reason I say that is because when we were here last time in (2021), a lot of the senior batters actually put their hand up and got us ahead in the series.

"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. 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,” he added.

Ajinkya Rahane top-scored with 89 in India’s first innings. No batter could reach a half-century in the second, with three batters being dismissed in the 40s.