On Stumps Day 3 of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023, Australia lead India by 296 runs at the Kennington Oval in London.
The day started off with Scott Boland castling KS Bharat (5) in the very first over which gave Australia a great start. The five-time World Cup winners would have quickly ended India’s inning but the side dropped three catches and Pat Cummins bowled another no-ball which overturned the lbw call.
Moreover, Ajinkya Rahane (89) and Shardul Thakur (51) put together a valiant century partnership. While Rahane smashed 11 fours and one six, Thakur managed to hit six fours as well. India, who was in trouble at 152/6, managed to avoid the follow-on and get to 296/10. Australia had a perfect opportunity to knock India out with two and a half sessions remaining in the day. Nonetheless, the Australians had a sizable 173-run first innings advantage despite India’s lower order’s fightback.
In the second innings, Team India began their journey with the ball with some restraint. Mohammad Siraj pounced early in the innings by removing David Warner which got the two Queensland batters to go into a defensive bunker. His partner, Usman Khawaja also nicked off a wide ball from Umesh Yadav which resulted in his walk back to the pavilion. In came Steven Smith (34) who immediately began to bat aggressively which also increased the run rate. The vice-captain along with Marnus Labuschagne (41*) put up fifty runs together in which the former scored the majority of them. However, the batter was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja while attempting a crazy slog. Along with Smith, Jadeja also managed to get the ball to turn sharply off the rough while removing the other centurion from the first innings, Travis Head (18).
Towards the end, Labuschagne and Chris Green closed the curtains and made sure there would be no more setbacks till the final whistle. Australia is undoubtedly the favourite to win this championship with a lead of 296 on the pitch which is losing value for batters. However, the Aussies won’t take India for granted.
Australia are piling on a sizeable lead at The Oval to take a hold in the #WTC23 Final 💪#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/UspU0fDETC
— ICC (@ICC) June 9, 2023
Scorecard:
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
Australia: 123/4, Overs 44, Marnus Labuschagne 41, Ravindra Jadeja 2/25