Gautam Gambhir questions KL Rahul, India’s approach in World Cup final

India’s hopes of clinching a third World Cup title were shattered on Sunday when they were soundly beaten by Australia by six wickets. India were the dominant side right throughout the tournament, but fell short of a well-prepared Australia in the final.

In the lead-up to the final, India had scored over 350 runs in three out of their previous four matches and their batters were constantly on the aggressive. However, their performance in the final was subpar, being restricted to just 240 runs in 50 overs.

Australia then chased down the target in 43 overs. While India managed 80 runs in the first 10 overs, their innings came to a halt and stalled as they could hit only four fours and no sixes for the rest of their innings.

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir said India should have been more positive and taken more risks in the middle overs. He acknowledged the potential risk of a lower score, Gambhir believed that India should have aimed for a quicker run rate.

“I would have actually liked India going really aggressive with their top 6-7 batters even if they had been all out for 150. I would have been fine. But if you feel you can defend 240 in a World Cup final…that is not where you fight. It is either this way or that. Either we go 150 all out or 300. That is where India have lacked,” Gambhir was as quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.

Gambhir spoke about the partnership between KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, which, despite lasting 109 balls, could muster only 67 runs. While Kohli maintained a decent strike rate, India’s scoring became even more challenging after his dismissal. Gambhir suggested that given Kohli’s role as an anchor throughout the tournament, other batters should have played more aggressively around him. Instead, Rahul ended up scoring 66 runs but at the cost of 107 balls.

“KL should have gone. What harm would it have caused? We would have been 150 all out. But had we been brave, we could have scored 310 and India would have been world champions. This is not the 1990s. 240 is not a good score at all. You need 300-plus totals. India were not brave enough,” Gambhir further added.