ICC WTC 2023 Final AUS Vs IND: The quest of holding an ICC Trophy is still a dream for the men in blue side. India looked like an out-of-sort team in the ICC WTC 2023 Final against The Aussies at Kennington Oval in London.
They didn’t had clear ideas and there was no plan B. Despite winning the toss and starting the innings on a good note, Team India gave away 327 runs on the first day of this Ultimate Test match.
The Aussies were placed at 76 runs for the loss of three wickets at one stage. That’s when India should have pulled the game away from Australia.
But that didn’t happen as the Indian bowlers didn’t attack the Aussie batters more. They allowed them to get well set on that wicket and so Australia was able to pile up 469 runs in their 1st innings.
India’s batting was also disappointing. The openers got off to a positive start. But they didn’t carry on. The Indian innings also required at least one batter to score a century in that innings which would have taken the team score closer to the Australian total. But that also didn’t happen as India fell 173 runs short in their 1st innings.
In Australia’s 2nd innings, the Indian bowlers bowled with good lengths. Still, the batters from the Aussie nation were able to set a daunting target of 444 runs.
Apart from the controversial dismissal of Shubman Gill in the second innings, all the other batters were out because of poor shot selection.
Chesteshwar Pujara who had already spent so much of time in England also couldn’t do much and India lost this all-important Test match by a comprehensive margin of 209 runs.
Australia has won the most ICC tournaments till now. This WTC 2023 Final win was their ninth title.
In today’s segment, let us look at the top five best performers of this one-off Test match in London between Australia and India –
Head played counter-attacking innings when the chips were down for Australia. At 76/3, Travis Head and Steve Smith took the Aussies to a remarkable position from where only one team could win this final. Travis Head was awarded the Man of the Match award for his excellent 163 runs. He played shorts all around the ground which actually demoralised the whole Indian team.
Many of us know that Steve Smith started his career as a spin bowler. He batted lower down the order in his first-ever match for Australia. But now, Smith is the MR Dependable in the middle order of Australia’s Test and ODI team.
He played well for his 121 runs. Steve has also scored the most runs by a visiting batsman in England. He also holds a key place in this lineup for Australia in the Ashes Test series as well.
There were only two positives for India in the batting department. Ajinkya Rahane was the first one and he has made a good comeback into the Test side.
After his successful stint with MS Dhoni’s CSK, Jinx transferred his good form with the bat in this all-important Test match. Ajinkya’s 89 runs stood out in the 1st innings and that also came in a critical situation.
But sadly, he didn’t do that well in the second innings. Still, he is the highest run scorer for India in this one-off Test match.
The all-rounder has the capability with the bat and he has shown that in overseas Test matches. Lord Thakur had scored 3 back-to-back half-centuries at Kennington Oval in London which equals the record of Sir Don Bradman and Allan Border.
Shardul scored a brilliant 51 runs in the 1st innings. However, he had a chance of breaking the above mention record by smashing his fourth back-to-back fifty at that venue.
Lyon roared for Australia in the second innings of this WTC 2023 Final. On that pitch which was good for the fast bowlers, Nathan Lyon did well in the second innings of India.
He picked up 4 wickets in that innings and got one scalp in the first innings. Nathan will be the trump card for Australia in the upcoming Ashes Test series 2023.
