"We were expecting too much" - Sourav Ganguly on India's collapse on Day 5 of the WTC final

Sourav Ganguly believes it was unfair to expect India to score 280 runs on the fifth day to win the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

Australia crushed India by 209 runs in the title decider at The Oval in London on Sunday, June 11. Rohit Sharma and Co. started the day at a decent 164/3 in pursuit of a mammoth 444-run target but folded for 234 in the first session.

During a post-match discussion on Star Sports, Ganguly was asked about the fifth day turning out to be an anti-climax, to which he responded:

"Anti-climax for sure but we were expecting too much today (Sunday) morning. 280 runs are a lot when you have only three batters left - Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane."

The former Indian skipper pointed out that the pitch was not as good as it looked:

"The fifth day's cricket is different in these countries because the wickets become up and down and there is movement. From the top, you feel it is extremely flat. It is green but it does not have the pace. It becomes double-paced, whether it is England or Australia. That is why probably such runs have not been scored for the last 100 years."

Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane added 15 runs to the overnight total before the former was dismissed by Scott Boland in the day's seventh over. The Aussie seamer then got rid of Ravindra Jadeja for a duck in the same over to virtually seal the game for his side.

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"They should have put up a better fight" - Sourav Ganguly

Poor shot selection led to the Indian batters' dismissals.

Sourav Ganguly was further asked whether the Indian batters should have shown more resistance even if scoring 280 runs was always going to be difficult, to which he replied:

"I agree with you that they should have put up a better fight. Bhajju (Harbhajan Singh) and I even asked Rahul Dravid about it. There is a slight dilemma while asking as well as you have yourselves played cricket and won and lost matches but sometimes you need to ask."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the batters need to contribute more if India have to win major events:

"The averages we have seen in the last five years - 26 to 28, no matter how big a player you are, you have to score runs at this level if you have to win big tournaments which India haven't done."

Ganguly highlighted that sessions need to be won to win Test matches. He added that he doesn't remember India winning any session that could have altered the result of the game.