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India need to chase down 444 runs in the final innings of Day 2 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, and the onus is on Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to take the team to glory at The Oval in London on Sunday, June 11. Ahead of Day 5, members of the Sports Tak team were briefly joined by Sourav Ganguly outside the stadium and he gave his prediction on the winner of the match.
"If Virat Kohli plays we will win, otherwise it will be very tough," was Ganguly's short and sweet reply alongside legends Harbhajan Singh and Sunil Gavaskar.
If India do manage to chase down the total on Day 5, it will be the highest run chase in their history in Test cricket. Kohli is batting on 44 off 60 balls and Rahane is batting on 20 off 59. This left India at 164 for 3 with the match expected to go down to the wire.
Even Kohli has confidence that he can win India the trophy, and he said the same before the Test match.
"What motivates me is knowing that the opportunity I have every game that I play for India, to make my team win," Kohli told the ICC ahead of the WTC Final.
"I don't think in sport there is any bigger motivation than that. I wake up every morning of any game that I play believing that I'm going to be the guy who is going to make my team win. I'm still as excited to be the man that helps my team when I'm batting out there," Kohli said.
He is also well-known as the chase master, and with an impressive average of 49.19 in the fourth innings, scoring 1033 runs in 76 matches, many will expect him to lead the charge from the front.
But the contribution of Rahane cannot be discounted. He was the highest run-getter for India in the first innings with 89 runs and will need to settle in early against the pace attack of Australia.
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