Mental toughness is the key to success in any game. It was proved by Australia in the ICC Test Championship final when they beat India by 209 runs at The Oval. Chasing 444 for the title, India were all out for 234 before lunch on the final day.

It was the second consecutive WTC Final that India lost in a span of two years. Back in 2021, they lost the inaugural finale to New Zealand by 8 wickets in Southampton.

India were comprehensively outplayed by a better team in every department.

The triumph makes Australia the first team to have won world titles in all three formats of the game. This was Australia's ninth ICC title: they have five ODI World Cups, two ODI Champions Trophies, one T20 World Cup, and now the World Test Championship.

The last time India won an ICC tournament was in 2013, when they won the Champions Trophy title under MS Dhoni's captaincy against England.

Incredibly, since then India have featured in 4 semi-finals and 4 finals of ICC events and lost all. The trend began in the 2014 T20 World Cup final, where they lost to Sri Lanka by 6 wickets.

While India have played good cricket in round matches, they haven't been able to bear the knockout stage pressure. Interestingly, India lost all knockout matches by huge margins. The lowest defeat margin was in the ICC T20 semi-final in 2019, against New Zealand by 18 runs.

Dominating in the round matches but failing miserably in the knockout stages is a big concern for team India. It was not the first time that India choked at a decisive moment. India deserve the tag of "chokers" more than South Africa. These comments were written by former Indian captain and expert Sunil Gavaskar for a newspaper way back after Australia slaughtered India in two consecutive finals and won the VB series without any resistance.

After winning the 2013 Champions Trophy, India lost to Sri Lanka in the ICC World T20 final in Dhaka on April 6, 2014. Sri Lanka beat India by six wickets. India managed to score only 130 runs and their bowlers could not defend it.

In 2015, India lost to Australia in the World Cup semi-final at Sydney. India were bowled out for 233 while chasing 328. The top and middle order again failed to perform well. Virat Kohli, who was the biggest hope for India, managed just one run.

India choked again - this time in their own backyard - when they lost to West Indies in the ICC World Twenty20 semi-final in 2016 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. India scored a massive 196 runs and were favourites to confirm another World T20 final berth. But the Indian bowlers failed to defend that total.

The most famous defeat of India came against arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2017 Champions Trophy final in England. India were favourites to defend their title. They had beaten Pakistan in the group match convincingly and qualified for the final without facing any tough competition.

Yet again, the Indian top order choked, as Mohammad Amir removed their top three batsmen. Amir dismissed Rohit Sharma (0), Virat Kohli (5) and Shikhar Dhawan (21). Pakistan won the ICC Champions Trophy final by a huge margin.

India have beaten Australia in the last four Test series, two in India, two in Australia, but the Aussies proved the superior side when it mattered most. The Aussies exploited England's conditions much better than the opponents despite losing the toss.

Australia qualified for the final through their consistent performance, especially at home. They won eight of the ten home Tests and were the most successful home side in this WTC series. They were the only unbeaten side at home, as the remaining two games ended in a draw in Sydney.

The Aussies also did well in away matches, too, including winning a series in Asia. They beat Pakistan 1-0 and had a 1-1 draw in Sri Lanka before losing to India by 2-1.

Australia had the best batting average in this WTC cycle with 36.95, while their bowlers averaged 26.23.

Inviting Australia after winning the toss, batting failure in both innings and dropping ace spinner Ravichandran Aswhin were the big talking points after India lost. If you invite the opposition to bat after winning the toss and they end up with a total of 469, it means your gamble failed.

Maybe the captain and the management of team India were afraid to bat first in cloudy conditions on day one morning.

India lost both WTC finals because they couldn't read the conditions well.

Australia opted to go in with a 4-1 bowling attack: 4 fast bowlers and a spinner. Nathan Lyon made his presence felt with 5-60 in the game. On the other hand, India surprisingly dropped number one ICC Test bowler Ashwin despite five left hand batsmen playing in the Australian team.

Ashwin was the best Indian bowler in the 2021-23 WTC cycle. He took 61 wickets in 13 matches, averaging under 20. He played a vital role to push India in the WTC final.

Indian think tanks had confidence in their fast bowlers to give tough time to Australian batsmen in the first session and wanted to save their batsmen from Australian quicks in the overcast conditions.

But their decision backfired as Australia posted 469 on the board and bowled India out on 296 with a healthy lead of 173 in the first innings and it made the difference in the end.

Another player who India missed badly was Rishabh Pant. He was the hero of the Gabba Test in 2021; he won the match for India single handedly when the other Indian batters failed.

Indian batting consisting of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja could not take India home when the team needed their services on the last day and failed against a quality Australian pace attack.

Rohit, Shubman, Pujara and Kohli combined scored a total 194 runs in the final.

Cheteshwar Pujara disappointed the most. He is a real Test player, has had immense success at the Oval for Surrey in the County Championship and even has a great reputation against the Aussies.

Before the match it was expected that it would be a contest between the famed Indian batting and Australia's swing bowling, but the Aussie pacers proved that there was no match.

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