As things stand, Australia still dominates the ICC’s WTC Final at the Oval in England, despite India’s gaining momentum on Day 2. India is currently trailing Australia by 318 runs in the first innings.
Although they managed to cross the 151-run mark, the runners-up face a hard time, having already lost 5 wickets at Stump’s. Only two Indian batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja, managed to cross the 25-run mark. Rehane managed 29, and Jadeja 48.
On the other hand, all Australian bowlers Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Cameron Green managed to take one wicket each.
Earlier on, Australia had managed to amass a total of 469 innings by tea. India responded by scoring 37 runs for a loss of 2 wickets.
However, India’s Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill were dismissed by Australian bowlers in a span of 5 balls. Rohit, who had scored 127 runs against England 2 years ago, was dismissed for 15 runs after being adjudged lbw to a full-length delivery from Pat Cummins. Four balls into India’s 30-2, Shubman Gill was also bowled for 13 runs by Scott Boland.
Mohammed Siraj led India to create an inconsistent comeback, where they added 142 runs to their overnight score. They made 4 breakthroughs, including taking 4 wickets and dismissing Travis Head and Steve Smith, who had both scored centuries (Smith-121, Head-163). This led to Australia slipping from 361-3 to 402-7.
India’s Bowling Coach Criticises His Bowlers
After the first day, India’s bowling coach, Paras Mhambrey, criticized his bowlers for failing to act on Head’s short-ball weakness on the first day. Nevertheless, on Thursday, the seamers remained committed to dismissing Head, and they managed to do so after half an hour of play.
Siraj bowled a delivery towards the Head’s leg side, who ended up guiding it directly into Srikar Bharat’s hands after an attempt to play the ball.
How the Teams Lined Up Against Each Other
For the fans of both teams and individuals interested in Lottoland cricket betting, we have compiled a list of the initially scheduled playing XI from both sides.
India
- Rohit Sharma (captain)
- Ajinkya Rahane
- Shubman Gill
- Ravindra Jadeja
- KS Bharat (wicketkeeper)
- Umesh Yadav
- Cheteshwar Pujara
- Virat Kohli
- Mohammed Siraj
- Shardul Thakur
- Mohammed Shami
Australia
- Pat Cummins (captain)
- Cameron Green
- David Warner
- Marnus Labuschagne
- Nathan Lyon
- Alex Carey (wicketkeeper)
- Steven Smith
- Travis Head
- Usman Khawaja
- Scott Boland
- Mitchell Starc
Prize Money and Points Table for the 2023 ICC Men’s World Test Championship
The 2021-2023 is the second-ever ICC’s World Test Championship Final. It started on August 4th, 2021, with the last match of the final scheduled to take place on June 11th, 2023. June 12th has been set as the reserve day and will be used to make up for playing time lost in the scheduled 5 days.
The winner will receive a whopping $1.6 million, while the runners-up will pocket $800,000.
In every Test, the winner is awarded 12 points. In case of a draw, each team is awarded four points, and six points to each team in case of a tie. The points percentage system ( PCT = a Team’s points / Contested points X 100) is being used to determine the leaderboard.
Participants don’t necessarily play the same number of matches during the WTC cycle. Nevertheless, each team played six WTC series, three at home and three away.
To give you a clear picture, here is a table showing the teams featured in the ICC’s 2021-2023 World Test Championship:
| Team | Matches | Points | PCT | Wins | Losses | Draw |
| Australia | 19 | 152 | 66.67 | 11 | 3 | 5 |
| India | 18 | 127 | 58.8 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
| South Africa | 15 | 100 | 55.56 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| England | 22 | 124 | 46.97 | 10 | 8 | 4 |
| Sri Lanka | 12 | 64 | 44.44 | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 13 | 60 | 38.46 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| Pakistan | 14 | 64 | 38.1 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| West Indies | 13 | 54 | 34.62 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| Bangladesh | 12 | 16 | 11.11 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
Wrapping Up
Based on experts’ predictions, 2013 was the last time India won an ICC trophy at the senior men’s level when they beat England in the finals. As things stand, India will be looking to break the spell in the 2021-2023 WTC Final.
On the other hand, Australia have won 2 world cups in the last eight years: the ODI and the T20 World Cups. Of course, they will also be keen on winning the World Test Championship for the first time.
