India vs Australia, WTC Final
India vs Australia, WTC Final: India entered each session of day three knowing that the most they could achieve was survival, which they did. Nonetheless, Australia’s hold had been strengthened by stumps.
India hung in brilliantly on the third day of the World T20 final, with two battling runs from Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur and a stronger bowling performance than in the first innings, but by the end of the day, it was evident that they had given up too much ground over the previous two days.
They started the day 318 runs down with half their team out, absorbed body punches to cut the score to 173, but concluded the day 296 runs behind with six Australian wickets still intact.
India began each session of the day knowing that the most they could hope for was to survive. They avoided being blown away, but Australia advanced gradually in the last session, leaving India somewhere between alive and out of the game.
Scott Boland started slowly and sneaked around KS Bharat’s inside edge to bowl him the second ball of the day. Pat Cummins and Brian Boland then tormented the two hitters, Rahane and Thakur, with an inconsistent bounce off the pitch. They were relentless and swift for the whole of the first hour. Thakur was compelled to take pain medication and wear padding on both forearms.
However, Australia’s performance on the field was far from flawless. Cummins finished with six no-balls, three of which resulted in wickets. After dismissing Ravindra Jadeja and Rahane on day two, he failed to dismiss Thakur on day three. In the slip cordon, three catches were lost. Mitchell Starc battled to maintain control.
Rahane and Thakur proceeded to score freely once they neutralized the danger of Cummins and Boland. By lunch, Rahane was 11 runs shy of a historic century on Test debut, while Thakur was 14 runs short of his third fifty in three innings at The Oval.
The 60-over-old ball had ceased misbehaving at this point, and India had a strong chance of drastically reducing the 209-run lead before the second new ball.
Nathan Lyon is punched through the offside by Ajinkya Rahane.
Nathan Lyon is punched through the offside by Ajinkya Rahane.•Gareth Copley-ICC/Getty Images
After lunch, Rahane chased down a widish delivery and edged it, only for Cameron Green to make a superb catch at the gully. The next three wickets only contributed 35 runs, although Thakur did achieve his half-century. India bowled more accurately than in the first innings. Mohammed Siraj, in particular, pulled inconsistent bounce after nicking David Warner off early. On a hit, the bat flew out of Marnus Labuschagne’s hands twice, as it had done before with Thakur.
He was once swept off his feet. Umesh Yadav took advantage of the pressure generated by Usman Khawaja wafting at a wide delivery to take his first wicket of the contest.
India would have anticipated greater progress at 24 for 2, especially with Labuschagne struggling, but Steven Smith produced an easy hit to push India back. Smith, who had set himself up for a long inning in the first, now aimed for early runs, scoring 12 off his first seven balls. As Smith seemed ready for a huge, easy knock, India’s second string of quicks bowled with spread-out fielding.
Steven Smith realized he was in big danger after botching a swipe across the queue.
Steven Smith realized he was in big danger after botching a swipe across the queue.
Getty Smith then tried a third assault on Jadeja during the Test.
He had enough of a half-hit to escape mid-off on the first two attempts, but this time there was enough grip from the surface to take the edge for a point and collect the ball. It was a relief for India to dismiss Smith for 34 runs while batting at a controlled rate of more than 90%.
Travis Head was then removed by Jadeja using the rough outside the left-hand batter’s off stump. Labuschagne, who stood wide outside the crease to face the India quicks, never seemed in command. He finished day 41 off 118, but he and Green both denied India any additional triumph. To their credit, India did not give them easy runs, limiting them to just under three runs per over.
It was half the work done for Australia, who will want to allow their fast bowlers at least 24 hours to rest before making their last drive for the trophy.
India vs Australia, WTC Final
