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PremiumInd vs Aus Day 2, WTC 2023 Final LIVE Score: India and Australia will lock horns once again in the final of the World Test Championship on June 10. On the third day of the Test match, India were bowled out for 296 runs while Australia scored 123 runs and lost 4 wickets at the close of play on Friday.
Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur shone in the batting department for India, with Rahane falling just 11 runs short of a well-deserved century, while Thakur scored his third century at The Oval. The Indian duo stood firm on a deteriorating pitch, taking hits to the body to keep their team in the game.
Australia leads by 296 runs with six wickets to spare. India will look to bowl the Kangaroos out for less than 400 runs and hope their batting can withstand the pressure of the swinging conditions at The Oval in the second innings.
For the uninitiated, India also reached the WTC final in the inaugural cycle but lost to New Zealand in the penultimate game. Meanwhile, Australia are playing in their first WTC final and will be looking to add that final elusive trophy to their armoury.
World number 1 batter Marnus Labuschagne and all-rounder Cameron Greene are on the crease for Australia. The next six batters for Australia are Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting was all praise for Ajinkya Rahane on Friday. He even gave a roadmap to the Indian cricketer on how he can retain his place on the national test side for a couple of years. Speaking to ICC, Ponting said, "I think there are two more Test matches in the West Indies after this before Rahul and Iyer are back, so he has got a real opportunity to prolong his Test career for another couple of years."
“I am really happy to see him back out there and playing and when you see him play like that (against Australia) you just wonder why he hasn't been in this India team for the last couple of years." Ponting added
World No 1 test batter Marnus Labuschagne comes out to bat at number 3 for Australia. However, on the Day 3 of the WTC Final 2023, Labuschagne was caught napping while David Warner and Usman Khwaja were opening the batting for Australia. Soon afterwards, David Warner got out and Labuschagne had to come out to bat.
The Australian batter has now spoke about his experience to ICC, he said, “I was just resting my eyes between balls and just relaxing. I was trying to calm my nerves a little bit, you can't watch the game all the time, I got up there and was awake pretty soon. I didn't have too many rests there when Siraj banged that first one in."
India managed to score 296 runs on the back of excellent contributions from Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur. However, Australia has already got a sizable lead of 296 runs and scored 123 runs for the loss of 4 wickets on Day 3. World No 1 test batter Marnus Labuschagne and all-rounder Cameron Green will begin the proceeding for Australia on Day 4.
Indian middle order batter Ajinkya Rahane got hit mutliple times on his fingers during Day 2 and Day 3 of the WTC Final. Rahane has now shared the update on his injury while speaking to ICC, he said, "Painful but quite manageable (blow to his finger). Don't think it'll affect batting. Happy with the way I batted. Had a good today. We were looking to get 320-330 but overall we had a good day. Bowling wise we bowled well. Everyone chipped in. That was a really good catch. We all know he's a really good fielder. Has a big reach,"
Rahane also informed while Australia is slightly ahead in the game right now, the first hour will be crucial on Day 4.
Given that Australia have already managed to get a hefty lead of 296 runs in the WTC 2023 Final, it is worth asking if the Kangaroos are looking to declare their innings on Day 4 of the test match. Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has given an idea of how the Australian team might be thinking, speaking at a press conference he said, "I haven't spoken to Pat (captain Pat Cummins) yet, so I don't know and it's not my decision, but I think we will keep batting for now. We have still got two days to play. The weather's been good and I think it's warmer tomorrow. Hopefully, the pitch starts playing a few more tricks but as far as I know it, we are still going to be batting tomorrow,"
Australia have already garnered a lead of 296 runs in the WTC Final and with six wickets remaining it is likely that the lead will only flourish to more than 400 runs. However, Indian team is not discouraged by the mountain of runs and believe they can chase down even 450 runs.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur said, "Well, cricket is a funny game. You can never say what is the right total and this one-off game, especially ICC finals, you never know, I mean, who can handle the pressure better out there, one good partnership when you can even chase down 450 or maybe more than that,"
"Last year England chased 400 here and they did not lose too many wickets. So that's a positive sign for us. Whatever they put up on the board, it's too early to make any predictions. We see a lot of times in Test cricket that game changes within an hour. So yes, we like to be optimistic tomorrow going on the field. And yeah, we'll take it on from there," he added
Indian middle-order batter Ajinkya Rahane was the pick of the batting during the first innings. It was especially surprising since Rahane was out of the international team since 2022. In fact, the middle order batter could only find a place in the side after injuries to KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
Rahane's comeback performance has left an indelible mark on the fans and cricketing pundits alike. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly while praising Rahane during an interaction with Star Sports said, “How good it is, after 18 months. He was away for 18 months from Test cricket, Many of them had written him off and probably he himself. It is not easy in Indian cricket as a batter to come back and make a statement. I think it is tremendous. There have been many comebacks in the past but not after such a long period,"
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DRS helped save Indian batters on 3 different occasions during the course of WTC Final 2023. 3 Indian batters including Ajinkya Rahane, Shardul Thakur and Mohammad Siraj had been given out if not for DRS. While no balls from Pat Cummins helped save the wicket of Indian batters on two of the occasions, a big edge saved Mohammad Siraj from being declared out on Friday.
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Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has questioned the umpires of the WTC 2023 Final and accused Australia bowlers of ‘tampering with the ball,’, especially for the dismissal of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.
He said, “Firstly, I would clap for those watching the match from commentary box, and the umpires? Australia clearly played with the ball and no one is talking about it."
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