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World Test Championship Final: Australia defeats India by a score of 209 runs

Pat Cummins and his team beat India by 209 runs in the World Test Championship ( final at The Oval on Sunday, making India wait even longer for its first ICC title. India needed 444 runs to win in their second innings, but they were all out for 234 and the game was over in the first session of the final day.

From Day 1, Australia was in charge. Australia set a big target of 444 after declaring after reaching 270 runs in the second session of play on the fourth day. While their top order faltered this time, a half-century from Alex Carey and some lower order tenacity allowed them extend their lead above 400 runs. Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bowl first, but Australia amassed 469 in the first innings, with Travis Head and Steve Smith both scoring hundreds. With a four-wicket haul, Mohammed Siraj was the highlight of the Indian bowling attack.Travis Head and Steve Smith each hit a century to help Australia get to 469 in their first innings.

The top order didn’t do much, but Ajinkya Rahane’s tough 89 and Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja’s important runs helped India save the follow-on. India’s second innings showed signs of a comeback, but Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc helped them get to 270/8 before the game was called. India, which was trying to get 444, got to 164/3 by the end of Day 4.

Then, on the last day, Scott Boland gave Australia a great start by getting rid of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in the same over. Steve Smith got Kohli in the slips for 49, and Jadeja was caught behind for nothing. Rahane then took a few shots before Mitchell Starc took him out for 46. Shardul Thakur got 50 runs in the first game, but he didn’t get any runs this time. The wickets kept falling, and India won the match when Nathan Lyon hit the final blow.

When Indian wickets fell on the fifth day, there were a lot of views and negative comments. From Sunil Gavaskar to Ravi Shastri, many past cricketers spoke out about India’s poor showing. Roger Binny, who is the head of the BCCI, also gave his view. He was not one of the most well-known people in cricket. Binny told ANI that India had already lost the game by the end of the first day. He explained Steve Smith and Travis Head’s big stand at the 4th wicket and said that if we took out their combination, the game would have been an even affair.

But on the fifth morning, Scott Boland did what you would expect a winner to do. India started the day needing 280 runs with seven wickets left, but Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane’s stand for the fourth wicket was already worth 71 runs. Boland didn’t change his length or line at all until the seventh over of the day, when he made the sucker ball bigger and thicker. Kohli hit it, and a jumping Steven Smith at second slip caught the edge of it. In the same over, Boland got rid of Ravindra Jadeja by bowling the perfect ball to a left-handed batter: it was angled in from around the stumps, pitched on a length, seaming against the angle, and took the edge through to the keeper.

Rahane, India’s best player in the first innings, kept fighting. He and KS Bharat added 33 runs for the sixth wicket, but he was finally out when he drove a length ball from Mitchell Starc away from his body. It was Starc’s first wicket. If Josh Hazlewood is healthy, Starc’s place in the first Ashes Test could be in question. Once Rahane was out, it was only an issue of time. Shardul Thakur was caught lbw by Nathan Lyon from near the wicket. Umesh Yadav caught a short ball from Starc, and Lyon took out the last two to end the game before lunch.

Australia was obviously the superior team on all fronts, while India could only blame themselves for yet another loss in a global tournament. India’s previous ICC trophy was in 2013, and it was their second consecutive defeat in the WTC final, having lost to New Zealand two years prior.

While the absence of R Aswhin was the key talking point on the first day, India lost the title race mostly owing to the failure of their star-studded batting lineup. In the high-stakes game, the top four of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Kohli failed to produce.

Pat Cummins, Winning Captain: “We made the most of the toss. We were certainly going to have a bowl. The way Travis and Smith played it gave us all a little bit of comfort after a pretty nervy morning. Travis has been brilliant throughout this whole campaign. He is always putting pressure back on the bowlers. We left day one on top of the game, mainly down to those two guys. At times we weren’t at our slickest. But when it counted we played really well. I thought a couple of days ago we could have really driven the game home but we let India a little bit closer. For the most part we were in control. Scotty Boland is now my favourite player. He just continues to be my favourite. Everyone just did their role. Coming off a bit of a break for most of us. We’ll savour this for a few days before we turn our attention to the Ashes.”

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Rohit Sharma, Indian Captain: “It was a tough one. We started well winning the toss and putting them into bat in those conditions. We bowled pretty well in the first session and then we let ourselves down a little bit with how we bowled. But again, credit to the Australian batters, in particular, Travis Head came in and played really well. That took us off guard a little bit and then we knew it was always hard to come back. We put up a show. We fought hard but congratulations to Australia. We spoke of a lot of things. We spoke of bowling tighter lines. But it didn’t work out. Things like that can happen. I thought it was a great fightback from Rahane and Shardul after being 5 down for 150. They stood up and put up a good partnership there and kept us in the game. We bowled pretty well in the second innings. Again we didn’t apply ourselves with the bat. It was a good pitch to bat on. All five days the pitch behaved pretty well and we didn’t capitalise. We’ve worked really hard for four years to make two finals. It’s disappointment for us. We would like to go one better. But you cannot take anything away from what we’ve done in the two years. It’s a great effort. A lot of players took part in those series. We’ll keep our heads high and fight for the next championship as well.”

Scores:

Australia 1st Innings: 469 all out.

India 1st Innings: 296 all out.

Australia 2nd Innings: 270/8 declared.

India 2nd Innings [overnight: 164/3]: Rohit Sharma lbw Lyon 43 Shubman Gill c Green b Boland 18 Cheteshwar Pujara c Carey b Cummins 27 Virat Kohli c Smith b Boland 49 Ajinkya Rahane c Carey b Starc 46 Ravindra Jadeja c Carey b Boland 0 KS Bharat c&b Lyon 23 Shardul Thakur lbw Lyon 0 Umesh Yadav c Carey b Starc 1 Mohammed Shami not out 13 Mohammed Siraj c Cummins b Lyon 1.

Total: [all out in 63.3 overs] 234

Australia 2nd Innings bowling: 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.

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