India had a task cut out after Australia piled on a commanding total of 469 in their first innings on Day 2 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final on Thursday (June 8), thanks to centurion knocks from Travis Head and Steve Smith. The onus was on India opener Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to give team a solid start but the dazzling duo fell in the second session to leave India wobbling.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins got rid of Indian skipper on the last ball of the sixth over. After Rohit's (15 off 26) dismissal the Indian fans hooked hopes on Gill, who was coming from a high of IPL 2023 success in which he cracked three centuries and also won the Orange Cap for scoring most runs in the glitzy league. But Australia's veteran bowler Scott Boland had some other plans and bowled Gill for a measly 13 off 15. Gill was undone by a clever piece of bowling from Boland. Boland's sharp delivery outside off-stump seamed in significantly after pitching and rattled Gill's stump. Gill was a caught in a fix whether to leave or hit the ball. However he didn't tinker with the ball which stormed into the stumps to leave the onlookers stunned and utter disbelief.
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India were reeling at 37/2 till tea with Virat Kohli (4 batting) and Cheteshwar Pujara (3 batting) in the middle, trailing Australia by 432 runs.
Earlier, the Indian bowling unit made an impressive comeback as they halted Australia's runathon in first innings to 469 on Day 2 of ultimate clash. Starting the day at 327/3, Australia added 142 more runs while losing the remaining seven wickets as Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121) were the two prominent contributors. The duo added 285 for the fourth wicket while Alex Carey (48) was the other significant scorer. Mohammed Siraj (4/108) was the most successful bowler for India with figures of 4/108 in 28.3 overs while Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur took two wickets apiece.
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