Home / Cricket / WTC Final 2023: "One good partnership and you can ..

WTC Final 2023: "One good partnership and you can even chase down 450" - Shardul Thakur

Team India are currently playing against Australia in the ongoing World Test Championship final 2023 at the Oval where Australia are playing their second innings.

By Shurti Banerjee | Jun 10, 2023 | 3 Min Read

Team India are currently playing against Australia in the ongoing World Test Championship final 2023 at the Oval where Australia are playing their second innings after having posted a massive total in their first innings and restricting India to 296 as well. However, after the finish of day 3’s game, bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur was optimistic and he said that India’s chances of winning in the ongoing World Test Championship final are still on. He cited the example of England’s recent fourth-innings efforts that will keep them in the game afloat even if they are asked to chase 450 for the win as well.

However, India’s top-order batters failed to contribute but they did manage a respectable total on the third day as Thakur and Ajinkya Rahane added a 109-run partnership for the seventh wicket that also allowed them to avoid the follow-on as well. They also did well with the ball to dismiss four Australian players before the close of play as well.

“Well, cricket is a funny game. You can never say what is the right total and this one-off game, especially ICC finals, you never know, I mean, who can handle the pressure better out there – one good partnership and you can even chase down 450 or maybe more than that,” Shardul Thakur said after the game. “So last year… England chased 400 and they did not lose too many wickets. So that’s a positive sign for us. Whatever they put up on the board, it’s too early to make any predictions. We see a lot of times in Test cricket that the game changes within an hour. So yes, we like to be optimistic tomorrow going on the field. And yeah, we’ll take it on from there.”

While he looked optimistic, chasing against Australia’s current lead is unlikely to be an easy one on a pitch that has significantly dried out. Moreover, Australian bowlers are all in form and they have already showed what they can do in the first innings as well.

“The pitch has become a little drier” – Shardul Thakur on the ongoing WTC Final

“I think there is an area from where the ball is coming up, there is a little grass around the crack and the length is such that batsmen can’t leave the deliveries easily. You have to play committedly because we saw today many balls kept down and I mean, that area is at a good length, a little short of length. So that’s the area where the batsmen can’t immediately see and leave the ball. You have to play it. And if it bounces from there – then good luck for the batsmen. It was bouncing from the other end too – but from a bit behind, so the batsmen were getting time to adjust, I think only Virat [Kohli] got the bounce from further on – but for all the rest, it bounced from behind,” Shardul Thakur again added.

He also shared that India have not made full use of this variable bounce after electing to field on the opening day of the Test. After a good start with the ball, their lack of discipline allowed Australian batters, especially Travis Head and Steve Smith to smash centuries as well.

“Conditions have definitely changed. The pitch has become a little drier. But in the first innings, Travis Head came, he swung his bat and got off to a flying start and probably that was a difference in the first innings I felt. But this inning with the rough being created outside the off stump for left-handers. It was not easy to play Jaddu and we saw what happened. Also, I felt if we had bowled bouncers early on in the last innings, it could have benefited us. Maybe it could have gotten him out. Yes, we did try bowling bouncers for a brief period in the first innings too but he got away with it,” Shardul Thakur concluded.