During the third and fourth days of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at the Oval, India showed signs of a comeback. However, their fortunes quickly turned on the final day as they found themselves all out in the first session itself, losing by a margin of 209 runs. India captain Rohit Sharma, reflecting on the match, expressed his desire for more preparation time before the Test. Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt responded to Sharma's comments by suggesting that if the Indian team truly wanted additional preparation, they should have withdrawn from the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL), which took place just before the crucial one-off Test match.
Butt shared his thoughts on his YouTube channel, stating that Rohit Sharma had questioned the timing of the WTC final in June and proposed moving it out of England. Butt noted that such discussions often arise when results do not favour a team and emphasised the need for setting priorities.
According to Butt, if winning the WTC final was India’s priority, they should have concluded the IPL at least 20 days earlier. He further suggested that they could have sent their squad to England 15 days before the final to play warm-up matches against county teams.
Butt also commented on India’s performance in Test matches away from home, pointing out a decline since Virat Kohli stepped down as captain in 2022. He acknowledged India’s impressive record in away Test matches in the past but noted a lack of stability since Kohli's departure from captaincy.
Butt believed that India could have even won matches held in India without a captain, emphasising that a true assessment of captaincy lies in how a team performs on foreign tours.
“It has all been downhill since Virat Kohli stepped down as captain. Things haven't been stable since then. They would have won in India anyway, even without having a captain. One can assess captaincy only when the team tours abroad,” Butt said.
Kohli led India to their first-ever Test series victory in Australia in 2018/19. In their subsequent tour of Australia in 2021/22, India once again emerged as the winners, although Kohli had to return home after the first Test. Under Kohli's captaincy, India also secured a 2-1 lead in a five-match Test series in England in 2021. However, the final Test was postponed to the following year due to a Covid outbreak in the visiting team's camp.
