London June 11 2023: Scott Boland struck early on the final day to put Australia in charge of the ICC World Test Championship Final, removing both Virat Kohli (49) and Ravindra Jadeja (0) in the space of three balls.
Australia had required seven wickets to win and India need 280 more runs when play resumed on day five with all results still possible.
Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had finished day four unbeaten on 44* and 20* respectively, and while at least one of the experienced pair were still out in the middle there was a glimmer of hope for India that they can successfully reach what would be the biggest ever winning fourth innings score in the history of the Test game.
But two quick wickets made an already unlikely task near impossible, as Australia moved closer to winning the WTC mace.
The Oval pitch is offering some uneven bounce and a hint of lateral movement off the seam, while there are some useful areas of rough and a bit of turn on offer for Nathan Lyon’s spin.
The weather is warm on London’s hottest weekend of the year so far, but there will be a chance of the first rain of the Test in the second half of the day, maybe even a thunderstorm.
There is a reserve day available on Monday should weather intervene early enough to force significant lost time in the match, with more than 60 minutes of play needing to be lost to weather prior to the scheduled final hour of play for the reserve day to come into effect.
India’s attempt at chasing down a record 444 to win the World Test Championship suffered a blow early in their innings on Saturday, when Shubman Gill’s sprightly start came to an abrupt end for 18 when he was superbly caught by Cameron Green low to the fielder’s left at gully off the bowling of Scott Boland.
There was some conjecture over whether the catch carried, with the decision going to the television umpire in the first such marginal decision since the removal of the soft signal from the ICC’s playing conditions.
But Gill was given out in a decision that ICC pundit Ricky Ponting believes was the correct one.
The big wicket of Rohit Sharma was snaffled by Lyon when the India captain missed an attempted sweep and was struck on the pad for 43.
And the third member of India’s top three fell shortly afterwards for 27, with Cheteshwar Pujara attempting an audacious flick over the wicketkeeper’s head and only managing to get a feather of an edge through to Alex Carey.
But Kohli and Rahane’s strong partnership saw India through to the close at just three wickets down, leaving all results still possible heading into this final day in south London.
