WTC Final: "The confidence was not seen in Ajinkya Rahane's batting" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra has said that the early dismissals of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane set India back on the sixth day of the WTC final, with the Indian vice-captain looking all at sea.

Kyle Jamieson dealt a couple of huge blows to Team India by getting rid of Kohli and Pujara in his first spell. Although Rahane did hang around for a while, he nicked a Trent Boult delivery on his pads to BJ Watling behind the stumps.

While talking about India's batting debacle in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted that the onus was on the established Indian batsmen to deliver the goods.

While acknowledging that Rahane was slightly unlucky to be strangled down the leg side, the cricketer-turned-commentator observed that the touch artist never looked comfortable in the middle. He said:

"When you play such a big match, you look at your main players, that Kohli, Rohit, Rahane and Pujara will do well. Ajinkya Rahane did score 49 runs in the first innings but in this innings, he was completely at sea. Eventually he got out in an unlucky manner but before that, the confidence was not seen in his batting."

Ajinkya Rahane scored 15 runs off the 40 deliveries he faced. He looked tentative in his footwork and endured a slightly harrowing time in the middle.

Rahane finding ways to get out, this time gifts wicket to Boult for 15 and India lead by 77 runs in the second innings. #INDvNZ

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 23, 2021

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Aakash Chopra on the importance of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara's wickets

Aakash Chopra feels Cheteshwar Pujara's dismissal was a huge setback for Team India

Aakash Chopra pointed out that Team India were put on the back foot straightaway when Virat Kohli was dismissed in just the sixth over of the day.

"When you started, the first hour was going to be important. If you don't lose a wicket, you will take the match forward and will control it. You lose Kohli at the start. Kyle Jamieson's incoming delivery hits him on the pad in the first innings and he gets an outside edge to an outgoing delivery in the second innings."

Aakash Chopra signed off by stating that Cheteshwar Pujara's dismissal was like a death knell for Team India as the dogged batsman could have held fort at one end.

"After that Cheteshwar Pujara out. You were in deep trouble once both of them were out. Agree Kohli was a big wicket but if Pujara had stood there at one end, what happens at the other end wouldn't have mattered as you had the insurance policy. Rahane, Pant, Jaddu and Ashwin would have scored runs at the other end. When Pujara became Kyle Jamieson's victim, the Indian boat was in troubled waters."

Congrats @BLACKCAPS on winning the #WTC21. You were the superior team.#TeamIndia will be disappointed with their performance.As I had mentioned the first 10 overs will be crucial & 🇮🇳 lost both Kohli & Pujara in the space of 10 balls & that put a lot of pressure on the team. pic.twitter.com/YVwnRGJXXr

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 23, 2021

The experienced middle-order trio of Pujara, Kohli and Rahane managed just 43 runs between them. Their dismissals left a lot to be done by the lower-middle-order but they too succumbed to the mounting pressure.