'Aus would have batted first in a big final'

Virat Kohli was not wrong in his decision to bowl first on a flat track but Adam Gilchrist, a member of the all-conquering Australian team, feels opting to bat was the way to go in a big game like the Champions Trophy final.

Gilchrist could only watch the toss of the final yesterday as he was flying in to New Delhi this morning but said the great Australian team of yesteryears would have preferred batting first.

Pakistan outplayed India by 180 runs to win their maiden title. The Indian bowlers struggled before the high profile batting crumbled under pressure while chasing 338 for four.

"Just before I flew out of Perth yesterday (Sunday), I saw the toss happening. Mine and Australian team's natural inclination is to bat first and try and get the score board pressure going," said Gilchrist, who is also Australia's education ambassador to India. "Having said that, if most of the games are won while chasing, like it happened in this tournament, you can't really criticise the decision to bowl," he said referring to the tournament trend which saw chasing teams winning 9 of the 15 matches.

"India are very comfortable chasing and have done well chasing. You cannot criticise them for that decision. The century maker (Fakhar Zaman) was caught off a no ball, else it could have been a different game," he said.