WTC Final 2023:Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane stood firm to defy Australia on the fourth day of the World Test Championship final at The Oval. Set a massive 444 to win, India started brilliantly before they lost Shubman Gill controversially and then Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara in back-to-back overs.
However, Virat Kohli, one of the most successful batters in Test history against Australia, and Ajinkya Rahane joined forces to help India dream of a miracle. They were completely outplayed in the first two days before staging a fightback on Friday. When play resumes on Sunday, India would be left with 280 runs and 7 wickets in hand.
WTC Final 2023: If India chase this down, it will be the highest successful run chase in history. Incidentally, the two current highest successful run chases have also come against Australia: 418 by West Indies in 2003 and 414 by South Africa in 2008. India had also chased down 328 against Australia more recently in Brisbane.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill started well for India. They knew they had to be positive and had to take the attack to Australia in pursuit of a massive target to win the World Test Championship final. Shubman Gill is a young player and has already made a name for himself. In January 2021, his 91 was as important as Rishabh Pant’s late-order heroics in a stunning chase of 328 at Brisbane against Australia.
On Saturday, Gill watched as Rohit Sharma cut loose against the Australian pacers. Boundaries came on all sides of the ground as the Indian openers tried to intimidate Pat Cummins and Scott Boland. The ball wasn’t doing as much as it did earlier in the morning and Rohit and Gill made good use of better batting conditions to score some quick runs.
