Team India’s hopes once again rest on the shoulders of former India skipper Virat Kohli against Australia’s mammoth 469-run chase in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. With the early dismissals of openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill before tea and No. 3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara soon after tea, Kohli needed to score a big hundred if India had any hope of getting close to Australia’s first innings total.
However, Mitchell Starc bowled a ferocious delivery, forcing Kohli to edge the ball to second slip, where Steve Smith took a brilliant catch over his shoulders. Kohli had to return to the pavilion after scoring just 14 runs in 31 balls as India’s score was 71 for 4 wickets.
Kohli’s wife and Bollywood star Anushka Sharma was also in the stands at the Kennington Oval in London and looked dejected at her husband’s dismissal. This reaction of Anushka soon went viral on social media.
Anushka Sharma and others can’t believe that wicket of Virat Kohli. A pin drop silence on the oval.#INDvAUS #WTCFinal2023 pic.twitter.com/sk01j6DUvV— Akshat (@akshatOM10) June 8, 2023
The Australian attack trapped India’s top-order and left Rohit Sharma’s side five down and trailing by 318 runs on Thursday, squandering most of the positive momentum as India took 7/142 in a much-improved bowling performance. did. India needed 119 more runs on the third day to avoid the follow-on mark.
It took less than four overs of the final session for Australia to pick up another wicket, and it was almost a carbon copy of Gill’s dismissal as Pujara dropped a beauty from Cameron Green which went back inside and took the off-stump. If Gill was stunned, Pujara was furious, swinging his bat in frustration at the error of judgment as the Australia all-rounder celebrated his maiden Test wicket in England.
Ravindra Jadeja tried to mount a comeback to cheer the Indian fans by adding 71 runs with Ajinkya Rahane (29 not out), before the all-rounder scored 48 off 51 balls, caught at slip by Nathan Lyon. The five wickets falling were shared equally among Australia’s five-man attack in a consummate team performance.
Earlier, India’s pacemen had made a spectacular comeback with the ball after a disappointing opening day, dismissing Travis Head and Steve Smith before lunch and taking 7/142 to bowl Australia out for 469 on the day.
Smith started again with an unbeaten 95 and brought up his century on the third ball of the day, hitting the first two balls to the leg-side boundary.











