New Delhi: Australia beat India by 209 in the final of the World Test Championship played at The Oval in England. With this, Australia has become the second team to win this title. Earlier this trophy was won by New Zealand. India’s dream of becoming this champion for the second time in a row has remained incomplete.
Chasing a target of 444 runs for the win, India started at 164 for three but Virat Kohli (49), Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (43) could not take the team to victory. Scott Boland made the match one-sided by dismissing Kohli and Jadeja in the same over.
With this, India’s wait for a decade-long ICC title got longer. India lost seven wickets within 70 runs in the first session on the last day and was reduced to 234 runs in the second innings. With this, Australia won the World Test Championship title for the first time.
India had scored 296 runs in response to Australia’s first innings of 469 runs. Australia declared the second innings at 270 for eight and gave India a target of 444 runs.
India was completely disappointed by its strong batting line-up. Rohit, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli could not walk in the big match. When Kohli and Rahane came to the crease on the fifth day, the spectators were hopeful but Boland wrote the script in favor of Australia by sending Kohli and Jadeja in the seventh over itself.
With the form Kohli was showing on the fourth day, it seemed that he would lead India to a miraculous victory and hit his 76th century. But could not save the wicket on the uneven bounce of the tricky pitch. He handed the catch to Steve Smith in the second slip. Jadeja, who had given Chennai Super Kings a memorable win in the IPL final a few days back, took a simple catch to the wicketkeeper after two balls. Rahane and KS Bharat hit some good strokes but Mitchell Starc returned to dismiss Rahane. After this, only waiting for India’s defeat was left.
ICC trophy dream is broken again
India won the last ICC title in 2013 in the form of the Champions Trophy by defeating England under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Since then the team has played in the 2014 T20 World Cup final, 2015 ODI World Cup and 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final, Champions Trophy 2017 final, ODI World Cup 2019 semi-final, Super 12 stage in 2021 T20 World Cup, 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final and World Test Championship 2021 final lost.
India Batting
