Australia has certainly given a great performance to win the WTC final. Winning by 209 runs is certainly not a child’s play. Australia excelled both in the bowling and the batting department. Not only did they score enough runs for the opponent, but at the same time, they also made sure that they took the wickets on time. The end result was winning the final of World Test Championship. There is no doubt that the Indian team is going to have a lot to learn from this match. It is going to be a lesson for Rohit Sharma. It has been seen in the past, that if the captain doesn’t give a good individual performance, then the team crumbles.
Review of the test match
Below you can read the review of the test match. There you’ll be able to see the areas where the Indian team could have played differently, to win the test match.
Day 1
- Rohit Sharma made the decision to bowl first. That was not a bad decision, but it looks like dropping Ashwin was certainly a bad decision, because his experience would have been handy. There is no doubt that Siraj and Shami started well by making the Australian score 76-3.
- Warner and Labuschagne started off well, but they soon got out, due to the brilliant bowling by Indian at the initial stage.
- However, things changed when Smith and Head got settled.
Day 2
- Smith was able to get his 31st test century, and head went on to pass the 150 runs mark.
- This partnership lasted for 285 runs.
- By the time, Indian bowlers broke the partnership, and took quick wickets, Australian team’s score was 469-10.
- India’s top order batsmen were certainly most feared. However, the top order wickets fell very early. None of the top four batsmen of the Indian team were able to pass the score of 20.
- Rahane and Jadeja managed to get a few runs together, but soon Lyon took the wicket of Jadeja.
Day 3
- Day 3 started with a hope for the Indian team, because Rahane was still there on the crease.
- However, right on the second ball of the day, Srikar Bharat got out.
- But Rahane was not going to give up so easily. Rahane and Thakur, went on to get a century partnership. They both took the score from 152 to 261. But, once this partnership was gone, then India was not even able to get to the total of 300. They got all out at the score of 296-10.
- India started off well to get quick couple of wickets, and made the Australian score, 24-2.
- Soon, the Australian score was 111-4.
Day 4
- Alex Carey and Starc, went on to score really well for the team. After the 93 run partnership, they made the score reach 260-7.
- Cummins declared the inning, at the score of 270-8. India got the target of 444 runs.
- Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, got a good start, but soon Gill got out on a controversial catch by Cameron Green.
- It was looking like, Rohit and Pujara will be able to get a good partnership. But they both threw away their good starts, within the span of 6 balls.
- Soon, Kohli and Rahane got a partnership, and this partnership became the last hope for Team India to win the match.
Day 5
- On the last day, 280 runs were required on 7 wickets. In the first half an hour of the game, India was looking good, and it was looking possible to win the match.
- Soon, Kohli nicked a ball, and Smith took a blinder.
- Ravindra Jadeja got out and it was getting clear that India might lose.
- Once Starc took the wicket of Rahane, it was clear the game was over for India.
- Once Lyon wrapped up the tails, Australia won by 209 runs and became the 2nd WTC Champions.
From India, Jadeja, Shami, and especially Rahane showed a fight. But that fight was not enough to win the match, because others were not able to deliver much. Hopefully, the Indian team will learn from their mistakes.
Related posts:
