Australia has made it harder for India to win the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final, which is taking place at the Oval right now.
Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121) both got hundreds on day 2 for the Kangaroos. This helped Australia get 469 runs in the first inning at The Oval, even though Mohammed Siraj (4/108) was India’s best bowler. The Indian openers did well at first, but their top order fell apart like a deck of cards, leaving them stumbling at 151/5.
In the WTC Final, they are still behind by 318 runs from Australia’s first inning score. Even though half of India’s team is back in the pavilion, they still need to score 118 runs to escape a follow-on. While that was going on, the best Indian batter, Virat Kohli, tried to steady the ship, but Mitchell Starc’s quick bounce off the pitch got him out. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara badly misread the line over the off stump and were out as well. As if that wasn’t enough, the pitch at The Oval has started to trick Indian hitters by bouncing unevenly and moving a lot after each pitch.
In the same way, Harbhajan Singh, a former off-spin star, spoke out about the current Test match between the two cricket giants. Singh believes that because the Pat Cummins-led team is performing better in the title match, India has lost control of the contest. So, if Australia scores more than 200 runs in the first game, they won’t be able to force the other team to bat again in the World Test Championship (WTC).
“I don’t want to talk about the WTC Final at all because India has lost a lot of ground in this match. On Day 1, the Indians bowled very differently than on Day 2. “By pitching the ball up, India was able to get wickets quickly and bowl out Australia quickly,” Singh said on his YouTube account.
This wicket is hard to hit in the fourth inning. Harbhajan
Harbhajan Singh also said that there was still a lot of time left in this test match and that, because the pitch was acting funny, Australia would rather have India bat in the fourth test. So, Australia won’t force India to follow suit. Instead, they’ll try to score quickly and set the goal for India.
“I don’t think Australia will choose the continuation if they have the chance to. India will bat last on this pitch because they will come in and score more runs. On this pitch, it will be hard to bat in the fourth round.”
The “Turbanator” was also happy for Steve Smith, who has been an important player for Australia for a long time. He also talked about how Travis Head was out and how Mohammed Siraj bowled. He said that Team India’s “bouncer” strategy worked, but Siraj’s four-wicket haul came a bit late. He also said that the Indian bowlers quickly ended Australia’s run because they pitched the ball higher.
“It was a good idea to bowl short to Travis Head. But in the first test, Australia scored way too many runs. Steve Smith is the best player when the stakes are high and the game is important. Singh said, “Siraj took four wickets, but it was kind of late in the game.”
At the moment, Ajinkya Rahane (29*) and KS Bharat (5*) are at the wicket. For India to stay in this Test match, the two batsmen will have to bat for as long as possible on day 3 to get as close as they can to Australia’s first innings total.
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