In a gripping finale of the World Test Championship, India faced a crushing defeat by 209 runs against Australia at London’s Oval.
Striving for a challenging target of 444 runs, India succumbed on the fifth day of the game, amassing a mere 234 runs in their second innings. This impressive victory allowed Australia to claim the last missing accolade from their men’s cricket trophy cabinet.
Australia’s domination in the final innings was largely due to the devastating bowling attacks of Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland, who claimed four and three wickets, respectively.
Indian batters initiated well but failed to sustain their form for an extended period. Notable contributions came from Rohit Sharma with 43 runs, Virat Kohli scoring 49, and Ajinkya Rahane chipping in with 46 runs.
India’s Herculean Task
On the final day, India positioned at 164-3, requiring an almost impossible further 280 runs to secure what would have been a historic total. The highest successful fourth-innings chase in Test cricket’s 146-year history was made by West Indies in 2003 against Australia, scoring 418-7 at St John’s.
However, the hope diminished rapidly when Scott Boland claimed two critical wickets in three balls during the first session of the day. His first significant achievement was removing Virat Kohli, who had only added five runs to his overnight score of 49. Steve Smith brilliantly caught his edged drive off a Boland delivery. Boland soon followed this by dismissing Ravindra Jadeja for a duck with a superb delivery that angled away.
The rest of India’s batting order collapsed, adding just 70 runs for their remaining seven wickets. This led to Australia asserting its dominance and achieving a significant victory. The match highlighted Australia’s superior gameplay and left India to introspect about their performance in the championship’s fina
