What led to Indias loss against New Zealand in World Test Championship final?
India will be hoping to bounce back against England after the WTC final loss against New Zealand. | Photo Credit: AP  Key Highlights Kane Willaimson's team was the better one in all aspects of the game and experts agree that it was a well deserved victory New Zealand is not only the number 1 ranked Test team, it is also believed to be the best side ever put together by the country Indian batting and fielding needs to be looked at and a serious overhaul may be possible in future matches  India lost the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final match at Southampton by eight wickets against New Zealand on Wednesday. In the post-match press conference, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that Indian batsmen showed a lack of 'intent' to score runs which led to the eventual defeat against the Kiwi squad. It is a matter of opinion, but losing to Kane Williamsons side was acceptable, even at the cost of the WTC title, especially because New Zealand clearly had the better performing side and apart from almost matching up to the bowling performance, the Indian side couldnt match up to world-class performance when it came to batting or fielding. Kohli didnt take any names but it was evident that he has a few names he has put on a mental shortlist who will be given very little in the form of leeway unless they present a better performance in the upcoming Test matches against England. From what it looks like, a much-needed overhaul is needed for the Test side for the right people with the right mindset to perform finding a place on the 11-man roster for upcoming Indian matches. The Indian skipper chose not to take names in the interest of team solidarity and morale but we will look at the players and reasons that contributed to Indias loss. Starting off with Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored just 8 runs from 54 balls in the first innings; he took 35 balls to get a run to his credit on the scoreboard. In the much more crucial second innings, he managed a meager 15 runs from 80 balls. Rishabh Pant was hell-bent on trying to throw away his wicket. It was New Zealand who were unable to take his wicket despite numerable chances right from the score of 1 run when the Kiwi side dropped his catch. Pant went on to score 41 runs, which is much better than what the top half of the Indian batting performed on an individual basis in their second innings. Despite having choice words for the team, Kohli failed himself too with a score just 13 runs. The top 4 batsmen managed to score just 66 runs, with Shubhman Gill making just 8 runs in the second innings. The saving grace was Indias bowling performance with Mohammad Shami taking 4 wickets and Ishant Sharma clinching 3 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah, Indias main seamer failed to perform but with the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin also taking wickets, arguably the best New Zealand batting lineup the country has ever put together, was confined to just 249 runs in their first innings. Indias batting performance in the first innings, especially from the top 4 batsmen was marginally better with the four top players, Rohit Sharma, Shubhman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli scoring 114 runs. Rahane managed 49 runs in the first innings but failed in the second innings with just 15 runs. Pant failed in the first innings again with just 4 runs on the board but bounced bay with a gritty 41-run-knock in the second innings. Everything considered the Indian team could have held out for another 20 overs which would have added about another 40-50 runs and given the Indian bowlers a defendable target to force a draw rather than losing by 8 wickets in such a historic match. By no means was the Indian performance, especially batting and fielding up to the mark as the second-best Test team as per ICCs rankings.