India vs Australia Highlights, WTC Final: Australia hammer India by 209 runs to be crowned World Test champions

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Pat Cummins, Australia captain: I imagined we were certainly gonna have a bowl. But the way Travis and Smithy batted gave us some comfort. He has been throughout the campaign, puts the pressure right back on the bowlers. We left Day 1 on top mainly because of those two guys. At times, we lost wickets. I thought couple of days ago, we could have really wrapped it up, but we allowed India to fight back. Fantastic. Scotty Boland, he’s now my favourite player. Coming in after a bit of break, everyone was switched on. Everyone had slightly different preparations, but played well in the end. It’s our favourite format. Grew up watching Test cricket, love it. Turnout this week has been fantastic

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Rohit Sharma, India captain: It was a tough one. I thought we started well, putting them to bat in those conditions. We bowled pretty well in the first session. We let ourselves down with how we bowled. Got to give credit to their batters. Travis Head batted pretty well along with Steve Smith, caught us off guard. We spoke of tighter lines, but things didn’t work out. Sometimes it comes off really well, sometimes it doesn’t. Was a great fightback from both Rahane and Shardul. Second innings as well, we bowled pretty well. Again, we failed with the bat, didn’t apply ourselves. It was a good pitch to bat on. We worked really hard for all those four years. Playing two finals is a good achievement. The Test Championship Final comes once in two years. Cannot take away credit from what we did in those two years. Been unfortunate that we couldn’t go and win, but we’ll keep our heads high. It’s been absolutely brilliant. One behalf of the team, I would like to thank each one of them for supporting us.

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Australia’s ICC title count swells to nine now with this victory. Here’s a detailed look at their titles in world events:

ODI World Cup: 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015

T20 World Cup: 2021

Champions Trophy: 2006, 2009

World Test Championship: 2023

Travis Head is the Player of the Match for his game-changing knock of 163 in the first innings!

Head: “It’s nice to come here and win. Hard work over two years has paid off. I wanted to be proactive and score if the balls were there and then if they bowl in nice areas you try and be good enough to stay out there for long periods. I’ve always been open to change and learning. Try to be as consistent as I possibly can. Nice for it to work out in such a big game.”

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OUT! Nathan Lyon grabs the final wicket as Australia hammer India by 209 runs to win the 2021-23 ICC World Test Championship! Siraj attempts a reverse sweep, and ends up hitting the ball straight to the Aussie skipper standing at backward point, bringing to an end a two-year WTC cycle.

Australia had narrowly missed out on the WTC Final in 2021 after being penalised due to slow over rates, but have more than made up for it this time around!

India have been bundled out for 234, losing their last seven wickets inside the morning session!

Siraj c Cummins b Lyon 1(6)

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FOUR! FOUR! Shami decides to have some fun at Mitch Starc’s expense, even if he’s going down with the sinking ship. Goes for a lofted drive down the ground at the start of the 63rd followed by a pull towards the fine leg fence, with the senior Indian bowler moving to double figures. Expect a simiilar approach from Siraj as well. IND 232/9 after 62.2

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OUT! Australia are one wicket away from victory, and might just wrap this up by lunch! Bharat had survived a stumping chance earlier in Lyon’s 15th over, but perishes just three balls later after skieng the ball high in the air while attempting a wild heave, resulting in a simple return catch for the senior offie. Wicket-maiden for Lyon. IND 224/9

Bharat c and b Lyon 23(41)

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OUT! Starc bounces Umesh out, the latter getting a faint nick while attempting to fend it, with Carey stretching his right arm to pull off a one-handed grab. With that, Australia need two more wickets to win the World Test Championship! IND 220/8

Umesh c Carey b Starc 1(12)

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After 60 overs,India 220/7 ( KS Bharat (W) 23 , Umesh Yadav 1)

Bharat taps the ball towards gully for a single, and an ambitious throw by Green not only misses the stumps, but ends up going all the way to the fence resulting in overthrows, much to Starc’s frustration. Couple of singles collected in the next over off Lyon’s bowling, with Umesh opening his account. Bharat’s batting on 23 and will hope to get to his half-century.

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OUT! Shardul Thakur’s stay at the crease is short, much like Ravi Jadeja’s, as he gets trapped leg-before right in front of middle while attempting to defend, leading to an easy decision for the umpire. Goes for the review, does Thakur, and gets three reds. IND 213/7

Thakur LBW Lyon 0(5)

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OUT! And now Ajinkya Rahane misses out on what would’ve been his second half-century of the WTC Final by a whisker, getting caught-behind on 46 as Mitchell Starc breaks what a promising sixth-wicket stand with Srikar Bharat that was worth 33 at the time of the dismissal. IND 212/6

Rahane c Carey b Starc 46 (108)

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After 56 overs,India 212/5 ( Ajinkya Rahane 46 , KS Bharat (W) 16)

Spin introduced for the first time today with Nathan Lyon replacing Cameron Green in the attack. FOUR! Rahane gets on the backfoot and punches the ball in front of square to collect his fourth boundary of the day and move to 45. Six off Lyon’s first over of the day.

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After 55 overs,India 206/5 ( Ajinkya Rahane 41 , KS Bharat (W) 15)

FOUR! Another boundary down the ground to Rahane off Starc, once again placing it out of mid-off’s reach! He into the 40s with that shot. Promising little partnership starting to develop between him and Bharat at the moment.

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After 53 overs,India 201/5 ( Ajinkya Rahane 36 , KS Bharat (W) 15)

FOUR! Driven down the ground by Rahane off Starc, bringing up the 200 for the Indians in the process! Rahane collects a single off the next ball to move to 36.

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After 52 overs,India 195/5 ( Ajinkya Rahane 31 , KS Bharat (W) 14)

Bowling change from both ends, with Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc replacing Pat Cummins and Scott Boland respectively. Bharat gets an inside edge towards the vacant short leg region for a single in Green’s first over of the day. A brace and a single to Bharat off Starc’s opening over of the day. FOUR! The Indian wicketkeeper-batter moves to double figures in style with a well-timed push through the cover point region, collecting his first boundary in the process. Drinks called on the field at the end of the 52nd over.

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After 49 overs,India 186/5 ( Ajinkya Rahane 31 , KS Bharat (W) 5)

Srikar Bharat walks in to bat after Boland removes Kohli and Jadeja in a space of three deliveries and nearly gets dismissed first ball after getting a thick edge off the handle off his bat, with the ball flying high over Warner in the slips. Runs away for a boundary instead. Bharat then gets hit on the helmet while trying to duck a short delivery from Cummins, leading to a mandatory concussion check before he’s able to continue. Australia burn a review in Boland’s next over after an unsuccessful LBW appeal against Rahane, with the ball going down leg.

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OUT! Two wickets in three balls for Scott Boland! Some match-winner this lad is! Ravindra Jadeja, who had scored a fighting 48 in the first innings. walks in next after Virat Kohli’s dismissal leaves the Indian fans at the Oval stunned in silence. Ends up nicking the ball to the keeper in the second delivery that he faces to depart for a duck in his second delivery. IND 179/5

Jadeja c Carey b Boland 0(2)

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OUT! Massive blow to India’s hopes as Virat Kohli departs just one short of his half-century, nicking the ball to Steve Smith at second slip! Scott Boland gets the huge breakthrough early in the final day! The Oval crowd is stunned in silence! IND 179/4

Kohli c Smith b Boland 49

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After 44 overs,India 175/3 ( Virat Kohli 46 , Ajinkya Rahane 29)

FOUR! Streaky boundary for Rahane, the first of the day for the Indians, as he gets a thick edge over the keeper’s head off a bouncer from Rahane.

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After 43 overs,India 169/3 ( Virat Kohli 45 , Ajinkya Rahane 24)

Scott Boland starts off with a maiden over. Pat Cummins steams in from the other end, and Kohli collects the first run of the day with a single off the first delivery after working the ball past mid on. Rahane later plays the ball late and guides it towards third man for a brace, before pinching a single off the last delivery to keep the strike. Rahane then collects a single off Boland the following over.

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Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane make their way to the centre along with the two umpires and the eleven Australians, resuming their overnight partnership worth 71. Rahane will be on strike for the first delivery of the final day, with Scott Boland having the ball in hand first up.

Can India bat their way to safety? Or will the Aussies break the stand early and wrap things up soon enough? Stay tuned to find out!

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Nasser Hussain and Kumar Sangakkara assess The Oval pitch ahead of the final day’s play:

“The temperature is around 30 degrees and there is a 40% chance of rain, so there could be a thunderstorm, but we do have a reserve day in hand. The pitch though has changed, from green grass to dry grass, the bounce has become lower. There are some footholes to the left-handers, but there’s not a lot against the right-handers.”

Australia looking for a good day in field

Cameron Green at the end of Day 4 said that the pitch still has a lot of life left in it and Aussie bowlers will try to make use of the support.

 “The wicket, we still feel like there’s a lot in there off the wicket. So, yeah, any time we can kind of maybe try and hit the seam and let the ball do itself. Let the ball go each way. We don’t know which way it’s going, neither does the batter, so that’s a few things we talk about,” said Green.

Kohli in elite list

With 44 not out on Day 4, Kohli has become the 5th Indian batter to score over 2000 Test runs against Australia. He now has 2037 runs.

India batters with 2000 runs against Australia:

Sachin Tendulkar: 3630

VVS Laxman: 2434

Rahul Dravid: 2143

Cheteshwar Pujara: 2074

400-plus scores and India

While India have successfully chased a target in excess of 400 only once in Tests, they have registered scores of 400-plus thrice in total in the five-day format.

400-plus scores for India in 4th innings of a Test:

445 vs Australia in Adelaide, 1978 (Result: Lost)

429/8 vs England at The Oval, 1979 (Result: Draw)

406/4 vs WI in Port of Spain, 1976 (Result: Won)

Shami confident India will win

Mohammed Shami is confident that India could collect 280 runs on Day 5 needed for a win in the WTC Final.

He shared his views in the presser on Day 4.

“100% everyone believes that tomorrow we will win the match. Because we have always fought. We perform well around the world, not only here. So, we believe and we always come together to win this match. It doesn’t matter what happened in Sydney or Brisbane, we are now playing here. We have to think about tomorrow and we will win the match,” Shami said.

Highest successful chase at The Oval

India are required to chase 280 on Day 5 and 444 in total to win the WTC Final at the Kennington Oval, but the highest 4th innings successful chase at the ground is 263 which England achieved against Australia in 1902. 

In fact, the highest successful chase in Test cricket history is 418 by West Indies at home in 2003.

India’s highest chase of 406 runs against the West Indies came in 1976.

What if rains today?

There are high chances of rain on Sunday at The Ova in London but the WTC final have a provision of a reserve day (on 2 June). However, the reserve day will only come into play if a significant amount of overs are lost on Day 5. To compensate for a loss of around an hour, the game can be extended on Day 5 but if more hours are lost then it will be compensated on the reserve day.

In the end, if the match ends in a draw or tie then both India and Australia will be declared as WTC Final 2023 joint-winners.

Gill catch controversy

Day 4 was dominated by the Shubman Gill catch controversy. 

Australia all-rounder Cameron Green dived to his left at gully for a fantastic catch but there were a few doubts over the legality of the catch. The third umpire had no problem and Gill was given out but the batter later posted a screengrab of the catch in which the ball appeared to have touched the ground.

Mohammed Shami reacted to the dismissal by saying that the umpire should have taken more time in making his decision.

“He (television umpire Richard Kettleborough) could have taken some more time (before giving the decision). This is the WTC final; it’s not a normal match. He could have zoomed in.. but it’s all part of the game,” Shami said.

Green in his reaction said that he is sure Gill was out.

“I definitely thought I caught it”, he said. “In the heat of the moment I thought it was clean, threw it up and obviously showed no sign of any doubt. Then it’s left up to the third umpire and he agreed.”

What happened on Day 4?

After Australia declared on 270/8 with Alex Carey scoring 66 and Mitch Starc smashing 41, India were set a target of 444. 

Opener Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill got off to a brisk start before Gill (18) fell to Scott Boland. Rohit Sharma got out on 43 and Cheteshwar Pujara departed on 27.

Virat Kohli finished the day batting on 44 and Ajinkya Rahane was 20 not out.

Day 5 of WTC Final 2023 is here!

The equations are very clear. 

India need 280 runs more to win, chasing a 444-run target. Australia need seven wickets more.

It is expected to be a cracking day of Test cricket and also rain is expected to interrupt the play during the day. We will bring you all the latest updates and scores. Stay tuned as we build up to Day 5…