After yet another failure in an ICC final, Rohit Sharma feels his team needs to think and plan differently for the ODI World Cup at home in October-November.
In pursuit of a record 444, India were bowled out for 234 in the first session of the fifth day itself to lose their second WTC Final in a row by a massive margin of 209 runs.
Not being able to win a trophy in the last 10 years despite reaching the knockout stages consistently would weigh on any team and Rohit said his side too is "dejected".
India's last World Cup win came at home 12 years ago and as the ODI showpiece returns to the country, the pressure to win will be immense.
"When the World Cup will be held in October, we will try to play in a different way. We will try to give people freedom and not think that we have to win this or that match.
"We have been thinking that this match is important, this event is important and things are not happening. So obviously, we will have to think differently and do things differently. Our message and focus will be on trying to do something different," said Rohit after a 209-run loss to Australia in the WTC final here on Sunday.
Rohit said the team will have to deal with the hype created during the World Cup in India.
"We have told the boys to play freely. And if it seems so, then hit. It's a simple message. Whether it's Test cricket, T20 cricket or one day cricket, we don't want to play under pressure.
"If you look at the innings, the way Gill and I started in the second innings, our entire effort was to hit and play and put pressure on them. That's why we were 60 runs in 10 overs. But if you play with that mindset, chances are you'll get out.
"Then the comments and the people who talk about lapse of concentration. There is no lapse of concentration. It's just that we want to play in a different way. We want to do something different.
"Obviously, we have played so many ICC tournaments and have not won yet. So, our effort is to play in a different way and try to do something different," he explained.
After the completion of a WTC cycle, talk about transition is expected. A lot of the players in the side are on the wrong side of 30s and going into the next edition, the team will need to take some tough selection calls.
Asked about building the team for the cycle, Rohit said: "Obviously, any tournament you play, you start looking at what possibly you can do moving ahead. Honestly, the game just got over. We haven't really given too much thought to what we want to do in the future.
"There will be some talks around it and we'll see whatever is required and whatever is best, whatever the brand of cricket we want to play in the next two years. And who are the guys who can do that role for us?
"That is the question that we need to find answers for. And there are a lot of guys, there are a lot of players who are doing really well in our domestic cricket as well. It's just about finding them and giving them that space, enough time to go forward and do the job for us.
"I also want to see where the next World Test Championship final is being played as well. Based on that, we will decide what sort of players we want to get ready and what kind of cricket we want to play," he said.
Overcast conditions, grass on pitch influenced decision to bowl first: Dravid
Head coach Rahul Dravid defended India's decision to bowl first in the World Test Championship Final against Australia, saying the call was dictated by overcast conditions and grass on the pitch.
Dravid was posed some tough questions by Sourav Ganguly, who commentated during the WTC Final.
Ganguly asked his former teammate Dravid the logic behind the reason to bowl first and he responded by saying that the decision was not about "tackling pressure".
"We decided to bowl first in the Test match because the conditions were overcast and there was quite a lot of grass on the pitch," Dravid said.
"So, we thought that it would get easier to bat on later in the pitch and that was the same case here also. Most teams in recent times have opted to field first in England," Dravid said.
"We thought that it was a great decision when Aussies were at 70/3 and then we leaked a lot of runs in the next two sessions. Even if we would have gotten them out by 300, we would have been in the game. We could have had a chance in the fourth innings," the India head coach added.
Dravid said the team was confident of chasing down a 300-plus target in the fourth innings.
"We had hoped that however behind we were, we could've shown more fight but we knew we needed exceptional performances. It was not a 469-run wicket. We gave away a lot of runs -- bowling was disappointing. We played some poor shots yesterday," Dravid said.
