"Hero worshipping proved to be costly in ongoing WTC cycle!" - Fans slam Team India for 184-run defeat in BGT 2024-25 4th Test

Fans have blasted Team India who suffered a massive 184-run defeat in the all-important fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 Test against Australia in Melbourne on Monday, December 30. Chasing an improbable 340 to win on the final day, India were bowled out for a paltry 155 in their second innings to concede a 1-2 lead in the best-of-five series.

It was India's fifth defeat in their last seven Tests, including a 0-3 home series loss to New Zealand. India also suffered their first Test defeat in Melbourne since the 2011-12 tour, having won their last two outings at the venue and drawn the other in 2014.

India won the series opener in Perth by 295 runs but lost the second Test in Adelaide by 10 wickets. A rain-marred drawn Brisbane Test meant the series was tied at 1-1 with two games remaining.

However, the Melbourne loss to Australia has placed India on the brink of elimination from the World Test Championship (WTC) final qualification.

Fans on X/Twitter slammed India for another crushing defeat with the following reactions:

Fans continued slamming Team India for their Melbourne defeat, with one saying:

"Hero worshipping proved to be costly in ongoing WTC cycle! Barring Yashaswi and some performances here n there no one batter consistently scored for team India. TBH with pathetic loss at home vs NZ and below par performance here we don't deserve to play the WTC final."

"Nathan Lyon and Scotty Boland trashed India with both bat and ball in 2 days," tweeted a fan.

"This feels so frustrating watching the worst possible efforts from experienced batsman. Well rohit sharma is the worst captain in test format and after all india cricket team are real chokers," a fan said.

"We had our chances, but we didn't take them" - Rohit Sharma on BGT 2024-25 4th Test loss

Team India skipper Rohit Sharma was disappointed with the side's inability to take their chances in the 184-run defeat in Melbourne.

The visitors had Australia reeling at 91/6 in their second innings with a lead of only 105 runs. However, the Aussie lower order added another 143 runs to set India a massive target of 340.

Talking about the defeat in the post-match presentation, Rohit said (via ESPNcricinfo):

"It is pretty disappointing. It's not that we went in with the intent of giving up the fitght. We wanted to fight till the end and unfortunately we couldn't do it. It'll be tough to assess just the last two sessions. If you look at the overall Test match, we had our chances, but we didn't take them."

He added:

"We had Australia 90 for 6. We know things can get tough, but we want to play tough cricket from hard situations. I don't want to look at one situation. We were not good enough."

With a 1-2 series deficit, India will now have to win the final Test in Sydney, starting on January 3, to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.