How India messed up a golden chance to qualify for third consecutive WTC Final

Australia won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1 and qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final while the two-time finalists India were knocked out of the race. From needing to win five matches out of 10 in the Test season, India ended up losing six as they failed to make it to the final

Tactically, performance-wise, team selection - India lacked in every aspect from the planning stage to the execution. There were a few individual performances but not much collective and India ended up conceding the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 10 years

Coach Gautam Gambhir, captains and the team management always leaned in favour of batting depth rather than playing four pure pace options. With potentially no support for Jasprit Bumrah in terms of wickets and with him getting injured eventually, India were left wondering if they could have gone in with an extra seamer

Jasprit Bumrah was the head, shoulders, abdomen, legs and toes for the Indian team in this series. Bumrah took 32 wickets while bowling 151.2 overs across five matches and won the Player of the Series. Bumrah was the star of the show and despite such a legendary run, India ended up losing 3-1... something to think about?

Firstly, the form of the two senior batters - Rohit Sharma averaged 6.2 in five innings scoring just 31 runs while Virat Kohli despite a century just scored 190 runs in nine innings. Rohit decided to opt out, Kohli is falling for it again and again. Rohit also had a poor series tactically as a captain. How much more time? Clock is ticking...

Lack of support for Jasprit Bumrah - Yes, Akash Deep bowled well, Mohammed Siraj kept running in throughout the series but others were not just consistent enough to take wickets regularly. Bumrah needed support and with no wickets from the other end, he was being called into the attack again and again, eventually leading to a burnout

Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar did well individually in bits and spurts, the former especially, smashing a ton at MCG. However, the Indian team needed to be a bit braver in selection. There was no need for two spinners on that green SCG wicket and India still went with it, eventually paying the price, rather decisively

With India losing 3-0 to New Zealand at home and then 3-1 to Australia away, the Test team finds itself in a soup. Yes, the next Test assignment is six months away but chief selector Ajit Agarkar and the team management has a lot on its plate to sort out