In the Final match of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023, Australia defeated India by 209 runs at the Kennington Oval in London.
The pitch had little challenges, and India appeared unconcerned in the opening half hour. Virat Kohli (49) also contributed significantly today but shortly chased a wide pitch outside off against Scott Boland and nicked off to Steven Smith, who took an incredible catch at second slip. This was the game-changing moment. Scott Boland also dismissed Ravindra Jadeja in the same over. Following this, it was one-way traffic. Despite being expensive, Mitchell Starc managed to topple India’s leading run scorer in the Test match. KS Bharat (23) was the only hope for the fans but even he couldn’t stay long at the crease. The tailenders couldn’t stick around in the middle for a long time as Nathon Lyon also finished with a 4-fer.
After losing the toss, Australia were put to bat by Rohit Sharma, and once the five-time World Cup winners neutralised the early threat, they were always in control. Throughout the Test, India were playing catch-up, and none of its batters were able to capitalise on their good starts. If there is one definitive moment from this final, it has to be Travis Head‘s (163) first-innings knock which brought the whole momentum towards the Aussies.
Head played an impressive knock at the strike rate of 93.68 which consisted of 25 fours and one six. India missed such kind of a knock which turned out to be the difference between the two sides.
Travis Head was awarded Player of the Match for his outstanding batting performance. Following this win, Australia have now added the only missing silverware to their overflowing trophy cabinet.
The first team to win all the ICC Men's titles 👏#WTC23 | #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/wo1Y6la2Lx
— ICC (@ICC) June 11, 2023
Scorecard:
1st Innings:
Australia: 469/10, Overs 121.3, Travis Head 163, Mohammad Siraj 4/108
India: 296/10, Overs 69.4, Ajinkya Rahane 89, Pat Cummins 3/83
2nd Innings:
Australia: 270/8d, Overs 84.3, Alex Carey 66*, Ravindra Jadeja 3/58
India: 234/10, Overs 63.3, Virat Kohli 49, Nathan Lyon 4/41