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Another final, another heartbreak, the wait for an ICC trophy. Going into Day 5 of World Test Championship (WTC) final, Indian team and players believed but few bad shots led to a dull affair for every Indian fan at Kennington Oval, London. The pitch did not have any demons in it but the Australian bowlers asked questions that demanded patience than throwing hard hands at deliveries. Scott Boland had an outing in WTC final that silenced thousands of Indian fans in the stands and may have earned him the status of an Australian legend.
India lost their second consecutive WTC final. One thing that did not change was lack of application from top order, selection blunder and failure to read the pitch conditions and choosing the squad according to it. In hindsight poor shot selections and leaving no.1 ranked ICC Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin on the bench will haunt Team India, captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Rahul Dravid and the team management.
Boland’s early blows
Day 5 started with a cautious approach from Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. Skipper Pat Cummins and Boland were right on the money. Rahane hit the first boundary of the day to get the crowd going. As the crowd was getting ready to clap for Kohli's half-century in crisis, he survived a wild appeal as Australia lost a review. But Boland was spot-on with his setup and pitched it a bit fuller to lure Kohli into a shot away from his body. The inside edge was certain and Steve Smith took a screamer at second slip to disappoint the population of over a billion.
Kohli missed his half-century but then an in-form Ravindra Jadeja walked in to bat. But Boland did not get give Indian fans time to recover from wicket of Kohli. From around the stumps, he cramped Jadeja for room and forced an outside edge which landed safely in Alex Carey’s gloves. Jadeja got out for a two-ball duck. Srikar Bharat was in trouble straightaway too but the edge went over Carey. Boland bowled a brilliant over that almost seemed like a knockout punch to India’s hopes of chasing the gigantic 444-run target.
No fight from lower order
Bharat had a troubled stay at the crease as he went on front foot too many times despite extra bounce on the pitch. Few boundaries from Rahane's bat gave CPR to a silent crowd but it only lasted a while. Starc sprayed it full and Rahane threw the kitchen sink at it. As soon as he played the shot he realised how big a mistake he made. Rahane's gutsy knock ended and with it India’s hopes that were hanging by a thin thread.
After that, It was just a matter of time. Shardul Thakur got out for a five-ball duck to Nathan Lyon. Umesh Yadav got caught behind trying to play a glory shot off short ball from Starc. Then Srikar Bharat took the aerial route but the ball could not even cross the pitch as Lyon took a catch of his own bowling. Mohammed Shami had his fun hitting few boundaries giving the crowd something to cheer for. He even used DRS to reverse a decision to prolong his stay at the crease. No.11 batter Mohammed Siraj went for a reverse sweep out of nowhere against Lyon as India got all out for 234, losing the final by 209 runs.
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