India fail to put up a fight against Australia in the World Test Championship final
The non-selection of R Aswhin was the big talking point on the opening day. India backed their bowling unit and decided to bowl first at the Kennington Oval. Siraj gave them a good start dismissing Khawaja for a duck but Warner and Labuschagne steadied it for the Aussies.
Australia were 76/3 at the end of the first session but then came Travis Head and Steve Smith who scored 163 and 121 respectively taking the Australian1st innings total to a massive 469 runs. India never quite really looked in the game after this.
The 1st innings of India was devastating to say the least with only Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur standing up and helping India manage to put up a respectable total of 296 runs on the board. Australia came into bat and set a target to 444 runs for India in the 4th innings.
India looked to start things on a positive note but after a controversial catch of Shubman Gill in the slips, both Rohit Sharma and Pujara sacrificed their wickets cheaply and went back to the pavilion. India were 164/3 at the end of day 4 with Kohli and Rahane at the crease.
The ball didn’t do much on the 5th day either but the Indian batsmen lacked the temperament. Boland lured Kohli to chase an off stump ball and dimmed him on 49; picking up Jadeja for a duck in the same over. Australia wrapped up the game in the 1st session itself and won by a huge margin of 209 runs. They are now the first nation to have won all the ICC trophies.