Members of the the Australian team and the two Indian batsmen India's Mohammed Shami and India's Mohammed Siraj shake hands after Australian won the match on the fifth day of the ICC World Test Championship Final between India and Australia at The Oval cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Start of Play: India is 164/3
Scot Boland lulls Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli looked in sublime touch while he was batting on day 4 evening and started positively on the final day. However, his strength turned into his weakness yet again when he tried to drive one outside the off-stump off Scott Boland who set him up nicely.
Ricky Ponting on ICC feed: “As batsmen when you know, they are locking themselves to that off-stump line. It Is very easy for you to go into the same spot and same position all the time expecting Boland, expecting Cummins to keep hitting that area and when you set up one a little bit straight and a little bit wider your eyes light up, you follow up with your hands and that’s what Kohli did.”
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Landmarks are a problem
Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja (1st innings) were close to their 50 while they played a poor shot. While Ajinkya Rahane threw his bat at a wide delivery to get a boundary and got a nick on 46.
Sunil Gavaskar on ICC feed: “I do believe that batters, when they know they are near a landmark, tend to try and do something to get to their landmark so we saw that in the first innings with Jadeja, he was batting so well on 48 and he pushed his bat out when he thought he could run the ball down and was caught in the slips. If he was not on 48 he might not even play that ball, he might have left it. And we saw Kohli chase a delivery outside the off-stump. He showed so much discipline, then he thought oh! 1 run can get to another half-century landmark. Milestones you choose the wrong balls to play the wrong shots because you want to get there. It happens so often.”
The best thing about today’s match is how Sunil Gavaskar expressed his frustration with India’s batting performance.
If you missed it, rewind and listen.
He made so much sense !#INDvsAUS #ICCWorldTestChampionship #IndVsAus2023 pic.twitter.com/VIlYXAoUt8
— Rishabh Singhi (@RishabhSinghi23) June 11, 2023
India 234 all out and Australia win WTC by 209 runs
Mathew Hayden on ICC feed: “It is the iconic baggy green symbol of success.”
Ravi Shastri on ICC feed: “The Australian supporters were outnumbered by the Indians; few who were there will remember the Sunday morning in London.”
Starts but no conversions
Rohit Sharma, Kohli and Rahane all got out after getting into the 40s. Justin Langer on BBC Sport said: “The difference for me has been in the top order batters, centuries win matches but the 40s don’t.”
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Into Boland’s mind
India was cautiously optimistic at the start of the day on the prospect of chasing the record total, however Boland spoiled India’s party by picking two wickets in an over – of Kohli and Jadeja.
Scott Boland after the game: “There was some bounce outside the off stump, tried to exploit that. Felt good to get Kohli out. Smudge took another amazing catch today. Nice to have the confidence that if you’re going to find the nicks, they’re going to get taken.”
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The Men in Blue have not won a trophy since 2013
Deep Dasgupta on BBC Sport: “It’s not been about the last five days. India hasn’t won an ICC trophy since 2013. It’s now about the past 10 years. We’ve done alright to qualify for the World Test Championship, and they haven’t won and that says a lot.”
India has fallen at the final hurdle yet again similar to 2021 when they lost to New Zealand in the WTC final.
Rohit Sharma after the game: “We worked really hard for four years, playing two finals is a good achievement for us. But the Test Championship final comes over two years so you can’t take away what we achieved in those two years. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t go on and win the finals but we’ll keep our heads and go on to fight for the next one.”
Attacking or reckless cricket?
Whilst the target was a long way away the India batters did not cover themselves with glory with some of the shots they played throughout the Test match.
Sunil Gavaskar on Star Sports: “I think the batting in the first innings as well as in the second innings. (On the reasons for the loss) Australia scored 469. With the batting lineup we often boast of, we should have got much closer to that, 390-400 if not 469. We gave Australia a big lead of 179 runs, it is never easy to come back. The batting was in shambles today. It was just ridiculous the shot making. We saw some pretty ordinary shots yesterday (day 4) from Pujara. Somebody you never expect to be playing that shot (upper cuts a short ball); maybe somebody has gone into his head and said Strike rate! Strike rate! Today with some of the shots how do you expect to win? With that batting line up 8 wickets did not last a session. Come on!”
Boland is the skipper’s chosen one
Every time India was getting back into the game Scott Boland came in and provided Australia the breakthrough. Skipper Pat Cummins after the game: “He’s my favourite player. He just continues to be my favourite.”
No excuses!
India coming on the back of a demanding IPL, looked a bit undercooked throughout the Test match. Especially in the final session of Day-1, the bowlers looked tired and the side gave away 157 runs which effectively cost the game.
Rahul Dravid on Star Sports: “That’s the reality we are faced with. Coming here three weeks earlier, having a practice game would be ideal. But we have to make do with what we can. Don’t think we should make excuses.”
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