Day 1 of the WTC Final saw Australia dominate a lacklustorus Indian bowling lineup with Travis Head and Steve Smith hitting centuries, stitching a mammoth 285-run stand for the fourth wicket. Smith and Head looked invincible and threw India’s plan off the mark.
The duo began the second day in the same fashion. They added runs quickly and dictated the game on their terms. The frustration of remaining wicketless for a long period can be seen on the faces of Indian bowlers.
In the first over of the day, Mohammed Siraj gifted back-to-back boundaries to the former Australia captain Smith, which made him reach the three-figure mark. Later in the next ball, Smith pulled out from the crease and stopped Siraj midway, citing some issue with the spider cam. Frustrated by the event, Siraj threw the ball away at the Australian batter. Smith later explained the reason to Siraj, but the pacer was not impressed.
Sunil Gavaskar, the former captain of India, voiced his displeasure with the incident during commentary. Ravi Shastri, the former head coach of India, also supported Smith’s position, stating that Smith had “every right” to leave the field before the delivery was bowled.
“What is happening? I mean these are the second and third deliveries of the day,” Sunil Gavaskar was heard saying on air.
“Steve Smith just backing away. Didn’t please Siraj but Smith had every right to move out of the way. It’s more the frustration of Siraj being hit for two boundaries. He got sounded off by Rohit Sharma the previous ball,” said Ravi Shastri on air.
Australia was bowled out on 469 runs on Day 2 of the WTC final as Travis Head top-scored with a knock of 163 runs in 174. Head’s dismissal triggered a collapse as the Aussies were reduced from being 361/4 in 91.1 overs to getting bowled out for 469 runs in 121.3 overs. While Siraj topped the wicket-taking charts with figures of 4/108 for India, Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur grabbed two wickets each. On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja also notched up a lone wicket.
In reply, the Rohit Sharma-led side got off to a poor start, losing both the openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill at a score of 30. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, too, failed to play good knocks, while Jadeja was dismissed on 48. Ajinkya Rahane (29) and KS Bharat (5) took the score to 151/5 at the end of Day 2 play.
India were handed an early blow on Day 3 with Bharat being cleaned up by Scott Boland off the second ball of the day. Thakur then joined Rahane in the middle. Both played some brilliant shots after that and took the deficit under 250. Meanwhile, Rahane reached a fighting fifty with a six and completed 5000 runs in the longest format. Shardul, on the other hand, provided reliable company to the former Indian vice-captain and added some valuable runs for his side. India have reached 260/6 in sixty overs at lunch on Day 3.
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