Virat Kohli dismissed on 49 courtesy of Steve Smith’s ‘absolute blinder’ (ICC Twitter)
Virat Kohli lost his wicket on 49 during India’s second innings in WTC final 2023 falling prey to Scott Boland as Steve Smith completed a sensational catch
Former Indian captain Virat Kohli was dismissed on 49 as he narrowly missed out on a well-deserved fifty on the final day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and Australia. Scott Boland set up Kohli with consistent good length deliveries on tighter lines before teasing him with a wide fuller delivery that the 34-year-old nicked and Steve Smith picked up an ‘absolute blinder’ of a catch in the words of Sourav Ganguly.
To further compound India’s miseries, Boland removed Ravindra Jadeja on a duck, as Rohit Sharma’s men found themselves in testing waters after they needed 280 runs to win ahead of Day 5 to win the WTC final 2023.
Kohli was batting at 44 while Ajinkya Rahane was batting at 20 at Stumps on Day 4, India resumed from 164/3 on Sunday at the Oval, knowing that they needed a gutsy display from the Indian batters to help pull off a massive 444-run chase.
Kohli and Rahane began the action well on Day 5, showing discipline, leaving many teasing balls outside the off stump. Boland continued to deliver ball after ball at tighter lines near the stumps.
The Australian pacer set up Kohli very cleverly consistently bowling tighter lines before the odd wide fuller delivery which the former Indian captain nicked to Smith who was stationed at first slip.
Kohli was batting at 49 and India received a double whammy as Jadeja failed to open his account, Boland winning the battle of patience, nipping India’s comeback in the bud.
Reacting to Smith’s catch, former BCCI president Ganguly praised the Australian stalwart calling his effort an “absolute blinder” while commentating on the match, on air.
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Watch Virat Kohli’s dismissal after Steve Smith’s sensational catch:
Jadeja suffered a similar fate, ended up giving away a healthy leading edge and Alex Carey did the rest from behind the stumps jolting India with two body blows.
Earlier, Australia had declared their second inning at 270/8 on Day 4, giving India a daunting 444-run total to chase and after a good start from Rohit who scored 43, the previous edition runners-up were put under the cosh straightaway in the first session on Day 5 with two early blows.
Following Jadeja’s departure, Australia needed just five wickets to win the WTC final 2023, while India were more than 250 runs away from the required total.