WTC Final 2023: 'Virat Kohli better captain than Rohit Sharma!' Fans engage in Twitter war after India's poor

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Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fans were engaged in a Twitter war after the Day 1 of the World Test Championship or WTC Final 2023 as Indian bowlers were battered by Australia at The Oval in London. Travis Head (146 batting) and Steve Smith (95 batting) took Australia to 327/3 at the stumps.

Rohit Sharma, who was made India Test captain in February last year, led India to the WTC Final after his side crucially defeated Australia in the Border Gavaskar Series earlier this year. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, led India to WTC Final in 2021, where they lost to New Zealand in Southampton.

Let's take a look at some of the Twitter reactions

Rohit Sharma faced criticism from several quarters after the skipper decided to play just one spinner for the match in Ravindra Jadeja while Ravichandran Ashwin was dropped for an extra pacer in Umesh Yadav. The decision was criticised by the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting.

Ricky Ponting felt Ravichandran Ashwin was a better fit ahead of Jadeja due to the presence of four southpaws in the Australian batting line-up. Jadeja, however, has taken 11 wickets in three matches he played at the Oval and scored 86 not out in his last Test here.

"So far for me, it looks like it was a mistake from them by playing the four-seamers, but we will see how the game pans out," Ponting told the ICC. "As this game goes on, I have got no doubt that there is going to be turn. Australia have got a lot of left-handers in their batting line-up to which Ashwin would have been perfectly suited for," he said,

"Well, first and foremost, they could have R Ashwin in the team (what India could have done differently on Day 1?). It really bafflesâ€æirrespective of what the conditions are, the No. 1 bowler in the ICC rankings is not able to find a place in the Indian playing XI.

"That is something that has baffled me all the time whenever it's Ashwin. Even the last time when India were here (in England), they were just not picking him." he said.