"We worked hard and we fought but we played just 1 game" - Rohit Sharma calls for 3-match WTC final

Indian captain Rohit Sharma has called for the World Test Championship (WTC) final to be a three-match affair instead of a one-off game. He said India's hard work over two years didn't get the right value after losing to Australia by 209 runs on Sunday.

India reached the WTC final on the backs of some impressive wins home and away. However, almost the entire team looked out of touch at the Oval as they conceded 469 runs in the first innings and didn't go past 270 in either of theirs.

"I would like to play the 3-Test match series for the WTC Final," Rohit said. "We worked hard and we fought but we played just one game. I think a three-match series would be ideal in the next WTC cycle."

Rohit has joined multiple other voices in the fraternity asking for the same thing. Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra recently said if the ICC doesn't have time to schedule a three-match series there shouldn't be a final at all.

Others have said both finalists should host each other for a Test before taking the final to a neutral venue and the overall result should be counted.

However, Wasim Khan, the International Cricket Council (ICC)'s general manager of cricket, had already diffused all such hopes by saying last month that one-off finals are "continuing to work as they are".

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Virat Kohli had said the same thing as Rohit Sharma after WTC final 2021

Interestingly, after India lost the previous WTC final against New Zealand in Southampton in 2021, then-captain Virat Kohli also echoed similar sentiments to Rohit Sharma.

"I am not in absolute agreement of deciding the best Test side in the world over the course of one game," Kohli had said. "If it is a Test series, it has to be a test of character over three Tests - which team has the ability to come back in the series, or totally blow away the other team. It can't just be pressure applied over two days of good cricket and then you suddenly you are not a good Test side anymore. I don't believe in it."

With the win, Australia became the first team to win major ICC trophies in all three formats.