India's poor show in ICC events continued as Australia won their maiden World Test Championship title with a crushing 209-run victory on the fifth day of the summit clash on Sunday. This was India's second defeat in successive WTC finals after losing to New Zealand in 2021 in the inaugural edition.
Chasing an improbable target of 444, India started the day at 164 for 3 but soon lost batting mainstay Virat Kohli (49), followed by Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (43) to be bowled out for 234 in 63.3 overs.
Scott Boland (3/46) was the best bowler on view as he removed Kohli and Jadeja in a single over to decisively end the contest and the rest was formality. Nathan Lyon (4/41), however, had the best figures as he mopped up the tail in a jiffy. Watch: Angry Sunil Gavaskar Slams Virat Kohli's Poor Shot Selection, Terms Team India's Batting Performance 'Disaster'
Former India cricketer and legend of the game, Sachin Tendulkar wished Australia for their WTC title but he also raised a finger on the decision of R Ashwin not making it in the playing eleven for India in the finale clash at the Oval.
"Congratulations to Team Australia on winning the #WTCFinal. @stevesmith49 and @travishead34 set a solid foundation on Day one itself to tilt the game in their favour. India had to bat big in the first innings to stay in the game, but they couldn’t. There were some good moments for Team India, but I fail to understand the exclusion of @ashwinravi99
in the playing XI, who is currently the number one Test bowler in the world."
Congratulations to Team Australia on winning the #WTCFinal. @stevesmith49 and @travishead34 set a solid foundation on Day one itself to tilt the game in their favour. India had to bat big in the first innings to stay in the game, but they couldn’t. There were some good moments…
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 11, 2023
"Like I had mentioned before the match, skillful spinners don’t always rely on turning tracks, they use drift in the air and bounce off the surface to disguise their variations. Not to forget, Australia had 5 left-handers out of their top 8 batters."
R Ashwin is the number 1 bowler in Test cricket and his exclusion from the lineup despite the fact that it was a pace-friendly pitch did not go well with a lot of fans and experts as well. The opposition played an off-spinner themselves (Nathon Lyon) and it worked just fine as he took five important wickets for his team.
