Australia crush India to win maiden WTC title
A fired-up Australia wasted little time in pulverising Indian hopes of staging a fifth-day miracle as they romped to a 209-run to win in the World Test Championship (WTC) final today.
Needing to score 280 runs on the final day to overhaul the mammoth 444 victory target set by Australia, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were cheered all the way to the pitch as they came out to resume India’s second innings on 164/3.
However, the boisterous fans, who had effectively created a mini-India at The Oval, were left muted and dejected as Scott Boland and his fellow Australian bowlers ripped through the Indian batting order to dismiss the world’s top-ranked team for 234 and wrap up victory before the lunch break.
The Indians lost their last seven wickets for the addition of just 70 runs, leaving the jubilant Australians to come together in a celebratory huddle before captain Pat Cummins lifted the WTC mace while the familiar sounds of “Down Under” blared out of the loud speakers. Their triumph was hailed by the International Cricket Council, who wrote on Twitter: “The all-conquering Australia have now won every ICC Men’s Trophy”.
Kohli and Rahane came out shouldering the hopes of a nation desperate to win their first global ICC trophy in 10 years and avoid suffering back-to-back defeats in WTC finals. However, within 35 minutes of the session starting, India lost two wickets in the space of three balls to leave the 27,500-seater arena deathly silent. Former captain Kohli added only five runs to his overnight score of 44 when he edged a fizzing Boland delivery to a diving Steve Smith at second slip.
His replacement, Ravindra Jadeja, lasted only two balls before departing for a duck. The left-hander misjudged Boland’s line and length and nicked the ball into the gloves of wicketkeeper Alex Carey to leave India staring into the abyss on 179/5.
The odds were already stacked against India before the start of the day’s action as no team had successfully chased down such a high target in the fourth innings of a Test. But Rohit Sharma’s men still harboured hopes off pulling off a miracle win like they did in Australia’s own Gabba backyard two years ago, when India completed a record-breaking final day chase to win the Test and end Australia’s 32-year undefeated run at the Brisbane ground.
When Rahane (46) and Shardul Thakur (0) were dismissed in successive overs to leave India floundering on 213/7, fans were left wondering whether the contest would even last until the lunch break. They soon got their answer. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon finished off the Indian tail today to end with 4/41.
Scoreboard
Australia 1st innings 469
India 1st innings 296
Australia 2nd innings 270/8d
India 2nd innings (overnight 164/3)
R Sharma lbw b Lyon 43
S Gill c Green b Boland 18
C Pujara c Carey b Cummins 27
V Kohli c Smith b Boland 49
A Rahane c Carey b Starc 46
R Jadeja c Carey b Boland 0
S Bharat c & b Lyon 23
S Thakur lbw b Lyon 0
U Yadav c Carey b Starc 1
M Shami not out 13
M Siraj c Boland b Lyon 1
Extras: (lb 2, nb 5, w 6) 13
Total: (all out, 63.3 overs) 234
FOW: 1-41, 2-92, 3-93, 4-179, 5-179, 6-212, 7-213, 8-220, 9-224
Bowling O M R W
Pat Cummins 13 1 55 1
Scott Boland 16 2 46 3
Mitchell Starc 14 1 77 2
Cameron Green 5 0 13 0
Nathan Lyon 15.3 2 41 4
Player of the Match: Travis Head
I think we’ll find a nice sunny English beer garden this afternoon to sit back and celebrate. It’s been an amazing two years. It’s been something that we’ve been building up for so it’s something we’re going to savour. I know we’ve got a big series (Ashes) but we can worry about that in a couple days’ time. — Pat Cummins, Australia captain
A three-match series would be nice, but it’s about finding that window. It (final) can be played any time of the year, and anywhere in the world, not just in England. Final like this, you need a lot of time to prepare yourself and that is what we did the last time we were here in England (Test series in 2021). We had 25-30 days to prepare ourselves. — Rohit Sharma, India captain
That’s never going to happen. Let’s be realistic. You’re going to get 20 days, but if that’s the case, you got to miss the IPL. The choice is yours (players). It’s up to the establishment as well. — Ravi Shastri, former India player and coach
We lost the game on the first day itself. The big partnership that Australia put on was what really turned the tables in this game. Otherwise, the game was even. — Roger Binny, former India player and BCCI president
We decided to bowl first because the conditions were overcast and there was quite a lot of grass on the pitch. We thought that it was a great decision when the Aussies were at 70/3 and then we leaked a lot of runs. — Rahul Dravid, India coach
The batting was shambles today. It was just ridiculous what we saw today. Especially the shot making. You have not even lasted a session. Eight wickets have not lasted a session! — Sunil Gavaskar, former India captain
With Thanks Reference To : https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sports/australia-crush-india-to-win-maiden-wtc-title-516418
