Underachieving India, Cricket’s Richest And Most Powerful Nation, Has A Decade-Long Title Drought

Virat Kohli was in the mood. As he walked out to bat on the fifth and final day of the World Test Championship final at The Oval in London, India’s talisman gave his cricket crazy compatriots hope.

India dared to dream because Kohli late on the fourth day thwarted Australia’s star-studded attack as he wound back the clock with a supreme innings.

It was the most fluent he’s looked in some time as Kohli had the rowdy pro-Indian crowd believing their team could pull off the highest fourth innings chase in Test history of 444 runs.

Australia had dominated for most of the match, but remained nervous knowing Kohli’s capabilities and were still haunted by their defeat to India in similar circumstances in early 2021 on home soil.

Kohli was steely-eyed in trademark fashion as day five started and remained in the zone for the first hour as an epic ending to the two-year WTC championship – in its second edition but with the first final in 2021 contested during Covid-19 restrictions – was set to play out.

But it was an anti-climax as seamer Scott Boland dismissed Kohli after a masterful set up marked by immaculate line and length bowling.

And India fell away rather tamely after that as the match ended before lunch triggering wild Australian celebrations in a perfect start to their tour of the U.K. with a blockbuster Ashes series just days away.

There is no shame losing to this formidable Australia side, which has moulded into being the most complete Test team they’ve produced since their glory era ended in the late 2000s.

It’s not an all-time Australia team and probably won’t have the longevity given the advancing ages of a number of players.

But Pat Cummins’ men now comfortably overtakes Michael Clarke’s side from late 2013-mid 2015 – though that team beating South Africa away in 2014 remains the high point of Australian Test cricket in the last decade – as the country’s best team of the last 15 years.

Still it’s a bitter disappointment for India, who have now gone a decade without a major cricket trophy, including consecutive WTC final losses.

Their only T20 World Cup triumph was the first edition in 2007 – staggering since the Indian Premier League is undisputedly the biggest tournament in the world and a breeding ground for local talent – and they last won the 50-over World Cup in 2011.

Given the limited number of major cricket nations – only nine contested the WTC – it’s quite astonishing India have had such a drought amid a period of prosperity off-field.

Due to its sheer population, obsessed fandom and deep pockets of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), India should really be completely dominating the sport something like the U.S. in basketball.

Their financial heft can’t be understated. Even though the BCCI boast a $6 billion media rights deal for the IPL, the mighty governing body is set to receive close to 40% of the revenue share from the International Cricket Council’s new $3 billion broadcast deal.

The proposed revenue sharing model has been much criticized, but likely to be passed by the ICC board during meetings next month, according to sources. India’s coffers are seemingly endless, but the cash-flush BCCI has often been criticized for not properly investing into the grassroots and infrastructure.

If there was more investment in those areas, given India’s wealth of talent, one can only imagine how much stronger their beloved national team would be.

But, right now, as a dejected Kohli trudged off The Oval with Australia’s celebration ringing in his ears, India’s complete stranglehold of the sport off-field has not translated on the pitch.