India won the coin toss at the 2023 World Test Championship final (WTC) and chose to play first. The Indian team bowled first and got off to a great start when Mohammed Siraj struck early and got Usman Khawaja out for a duck. But Steve Smith and Travis Head played great knocks that helped the Aussies get back on track. Even though Khawaja’s dismissal made for a rough start to the game, Australia made a strong comeback.
In the fourth over of the first inning, Siraj sent Khawaja back to the dugout. The ball hit Khawaja’s bat lightly, and wicketkeeper KS Bharat caught it right away. Former Australian cricketer Justin Langer, who was on the radio at the time and saw Khawaja get out, said he thought it was because Khawaja was wearing a long-sleeved jumper.
“He came out in a jumper with long sleeves. I thought that if I wore a long-sleeved jumper, especially in the morning, I needed to look smart. And he wore that long-sleeved jumper when he came out today and didn’t move. “He’ll be upset to be out in the first 30 minutes,” Justin Langer said on the radio.
At the end of Day 2, India had scored 151 runs.
Australia got 469 runs on the board thanks to great hits from Smith and Head and a late push from Alex Carey. Also, the Aussies backed that up with a great performance with the ball.
India got off to a bad start when they went up to bat because both Shubman Gill and their captain, Rohit Sharma, were sent back to the pitch early. Also, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli were quickly taken out of the game. Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja did play a great knock under pressure. In 51 balls, the 34-year-old scored 48 runs.
At the end of Day 2, when stumps were called, Ajinkya Rahane and KS Bharat were at the wicket. Rahane was still unbeaten with 29 runs after 71 balls, while Bharat had five runs.
India
