Look back at the WTC FINAL 2023

Kennington Oval, London, United Kingdom. Where early Cricket was played and where the gentleman's game originated. Cricket's finest and most remembered format's world cup comes to the historic battlefield as the two best sides of the test cricketing arena set to collide. In a place where warriors have conquered, legends were born, and greats were built, Sharma's India and Cummins's Australia are privileged to play a fine game of red-ball cricket. Mohammed Shami, the Indian speedster runs in round the wicket as Warner stands in stance expecting the fresh Dukes. Good length Straight away and angling into the lefthander. Warner defenses it on the front foot and immediately calls a 'no run'. Shami runs in again with the dukes in hand and bowls the 3rd delivery which hinted swing for the 1st time. Batting was difficult. The amount of bounce and swing made it really hard for the batsmen. While the war of bat and ball went on, Usman Khawaja edged it to the slips off M. Siraj. And India had their first blood. The game was on! And Marnus Labuschagne entered the field. The way he had to deal with the ball said it all. A random delivery which had an awkward bounce hit on Labuschagne’s glove and the bat was off of his grip. The play went on like this. When the play began after lunch, there was no Warner at the crease but Steven Smith. Smith had his game planned with his weird actions and leaves. Played well the odd delivery and left alone the good one. Typical test cricket, right? And there fell Marnus Labuschagne off an inswinger from Shami. And the man of the Aussies 1st innings entered the field, Travis Head. The most underrated I should say. With Steve Smith’s anchoring and Head’s aggressive batting, it looked like the Aussies were safe. He played with quick hands, reaching for the ball. It was risky but was easy on the eyes and even the sound from the bat was crispy. After a while head raised his bat, reaching 50 off just 60 deliveries, while Smith was hanging there on 31 off 70 deliveries. Two different playing mindsets made the perfect match for Australia.

Head was on 99. The Indian bowlers tried to get him out, throwing bouncers at him. In my opinion, a thing a bowler and a team should not do at a certain time. If a batter is on 99 doing all the hard work to get to that position and you try to get him out? What’s the point? Anyway, it wasn’t Sir Viv Richard’s West Indies to be that gentle. And we can’t expect that kind of gentlemanly behavior from the Indians. So, there came a bouncer on the 4th stump line and Head pulled it to deep square leg to reach his century, the 1st against India and most importantly the knock which inspired the Aussies to win the mace as well. And, man what a shot from Steve Smith to end the day. A gentle touch from the full face of his blade glides the ball to the boundary cushions through the fieldsmen in cover and extra cover. The two men, Head and Smith walked off the field with the scorecard at 327 and gathering 146 and 95 personal runs respectively. A perfect end to the day! And we move on to the 2nd day. Nice sunshine on the turf, nice English conditions for Cricket. Mohammed Siraj starts off and straightaway a bouncer to Travis Head. He manages to keep it down barely getting on to his backfoot and reaching the impact point awkwardly jumping up. 4th ball of the 86th overs was a delivery which wasn’t a bouncer, but directed to Steve Smith’s pads and sent back to the boundary cushions with a gentle touch through Mid-wicket. Steve Smith became a centurion scoring his 31st hundred. After some time, Travis Head was back in the pavilion, getting out for 163, edging it to Srikar Bharat. Not much time had passed, Cam Green was back in the pavilion too. 1st ball of the 99th over was the one which sent back Steve Smith. Suddenly Aussies seemed collapsing. And it happened. Apart from Alex Carey’s little cameo, there was no one carrying consistency in batting. Aussies registered 469 all out… Well, that’s a good score, right? Of course, they must have been happy about their approach during those two days. Playing in their greatest rivalry’s kingdoms seemed very easy and comfortable. Well, the Indians had their own troubles in English conditions. They tried hard to vanish the Aussie innings but couldn’t.

And it was India’s turn to make the mark in the match as they were down and out when the Aussies were batting. Mitch Starc ran in and directed a bouncer to Rohit Sharma! Seemed like they’ve activated the revenge mode. But the second ball which was directed in the chest height of Sharma was the perfect delivery for him to play his signature shot. The Pull! Sounded pretty nice at that time. In the other end Shubman Gill played a brilliant cover drive which should have made Virat Kohli’s eyes go wide. Absolutely stunning from the young boy from Kolkata. But this didn’t last long. The skipper was out LBW by the opposition skipper and Gill was out played on by Scott Boland. It was 30 for 2! The Drives from Kohli are always special, easy on the eyes. So as the one he played during the 17th over. After 2 overs Kohli was out, so was Pujara and India were 71 for 4. Pretty critical situation right. Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane tried to build up the innings, but at the end of the day there was no Jadeja and India finished off 151 for 5. And the trouble continued for India as they couldn’t have a better score at the end of the day. The struggle was on from the start for them as the Aussie pacers kept on firing rockets at them. Play started for day 3 and Bharat was dismissed after a short period of time. Indians have their own type of fightback as I see. Throughout the cricketing journey of India, they’ve performed such actions to prove they are strong and mighty. Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur did the same. Cuts, drives, pulls, deaf touches presented their dedication and attitude to get on top of this game. Top notch effort I should say. But it didn’t happen for Ajinkya Rahane… Cameron Green swallowed a brilliant catch at gully to dismiss him for 89. If it wasn’t him, Rahane could have another chance to bat on. Shardul Thakur reached 50, a brilliant fight back. But he couldn’t hang on. India fell 170 odd runs short. And the Aussies had the lead.

Batting was really difficult for the Aussies during this time too. Warner fell cheaply during the second innings too. Marnus Labuschagne had to deal with the same old bouncers this time as well. His bat was out of grip 3 or 4 times. They played well apart from those sudden wickets which fell. And they ended 123 for 4, with a lead of 290 odd runs. Aussies were on the top! (End of the day) No one scored much in the start apart from Cam Green’s classic couple of shots. Australia was 223 for 6 when Alex Carey reached 50. And Mitchel Starc, he played 41 before he edged it to Virat Kohli at slips. It was quite a good hand from him. Alex Carey hanged on while Pat Cummins played some big shots before he got out and decided to declare on 270 for 8. And India had a big chase, 444 it was! The Indian openers played some great shots. It looked like India were doing it. Kohli and Rahane looked also comfortable playing spin during the afternoon, like I was watching this, taking down the notes sipping a cup of tea… They both survived that day but not my tea. Well thinking about what happens to India in these big ICC tournament finals, it seems like their overconfidence and the fake appearance created by the Indian media. India is strong. Actually, they are consistent to be in two finals of the WTC. But not consistent enough to win. That has been the problem for them. Until, the collapse started…. Kohli was out 49. Jadeja out the 2nd ball and struggle started to reach the Indian dugout. Suddenly a Tendulkar style straight drive from Rahane. And again, after some time. He missed out again, was out for 46. And India seemed losing it. Bharat slogged one off Nathan Lyon which ended the last hope for the Indians. And the last man was in! He wasn’t here to anchor, because all of them knew that it was a losing game. Siraj tries the reverse sweep for some reason and no one thought it would be the end. And the Aussies were the test champions for the 1st time in history! Travis Head became the man of the match…

This time it wasn’t of barest of margins. But pretty comfortably and with a fair gap. It looked like the favorites had done it with ease. And yes, I should say. Cummins’s Australia celebrated while Sharma’s India had to stay silent for the second time enjoying the comfort of losing…. The place was all over champaign and the Aussies celebrated. At the end of the day, they had all of the trophies of ICC and there concluded the WTC cycle for 2021-2023. ©vihain_writes