ICC World Trial Championship Final: Day 3 Report- The powerful Australians asserted their dominance over India in the final of the ICC World Test Championship. Australia they now have a massive 296-run lead and the Aussies have scored 123 runs for the loss of 4 wickets at Stumps on Day 3. Marnus Labuschagne played a decent 41-run strike from 118 balls and hit 4 fours and showed immense mental application in a treacherous surface.
WTC Final: India vs Australia – Day 3 Session 1
The Aussies got the key wicket of KS Bharat earlier in the innings when rising pacemaker Scott Boland castled the wicket keeper batsman. Shardul Thakur faced plenty of shots to his right forearm as pacer Pat Cummins hit the line and length off of him.
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Ajinkya Rahane along with Shardul Thakur formed an invaluable 109-run partnership and lifted the team out of a mess as at one point India trailed to 152-6. Skipper Pat Cummins did not panic even as India scored 109 runs in the morning session for the loss of 1 wicket.
The Australia players dropped sacks and skipper Pat Cummins also went over the line while taking Shardul Thakur’s wicket, greatly hurting the team. Surprisingly, Nathan Lyon did not get into the attack even though the rude were present.
WTC Final: India vs Australia – Day 3 Session 2
The Pat Cummins-led side looked a different unit in the afternoon session as they took 4 wickets for 36 runs and pooled India for 296 runs. Star hitter Ajinkya Rahane would be a bit disappointed as he missed out on a well deserved ton.
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Shardul Thakur played a fine 51-run stroke off 109 balls and hit 6 fours. Skipper Pat Cummins was the choice of bowlers who took 3 scalps and gave away 83 runs in his 20 overs and he would be happy as he had previously taken 2 wickets on his no-balls which cost the team dearly.
Australia lost 1 key wicket to David Warner in the tricky 11-over phase and the Aussies scored 23 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Usman Khawaja gradually got into a rhythm when the pitch began to misbehave.
WTC Final: India vs Australia – Day 3 Session 3
The Aussies had a pretty decent afternoon session as they scored 100 runs and lost 3 wickets. Remarkably, Ravindra Jadeja, the left-arm spinner, took 2 scalps and gave away just 25 runs in his 9-over spell and bowled 3 maidens. Mohammed Shami failed to reap the rewards for his fantastic 10-over spell as he conceded 17 runs.
The Australians targeted Mohammed Siraj as he conceded 41 runs in his 12 overs and took 1 wicket. The Men in Blue would try to restrict Australia below 350 runs, which seems like quite a tall order because chasing 400 won’t be easy on this slow surface.
Also Read: ICC World Test Championship Final: ‘It’s good to bring Shubman Gill down early’: Scott Boland on picking up Indian superstar’s wicket
WTC Final: India vs Australia – Day 3 Scorecard
India won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Australia: 469/10 (121.3 overs)
Travis Head 163 (174), Steve Smith 121 (268)
Mohamed Siraj 4-108-28.3-4, Shardul Thakur 2-83-23-4
India : 296/10 (69.4 overs)
Ajinkya Rahane 89 (129), Shardul Thakur 51 (109)
Pat Cummins 3-83-20-2, Cameron Green 2-44-12-1
Australia: 123/4 (44 laps)
Marnus Labuschagne 41 (118), Steve Smith 34 (47)
Ravindra Jadeja 2-25-9-3, Umesh Yadav 1-21-7-1
virat kohli | rohit sharma | Rishabh trousers | Raul KL | Suryakumar Yadav | sanju samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah