WTC Standings 2021-23 After India vs Australia 2nd Test: Men in Blue Inch Closer For a Second Consecutive FINAL Spot
New Delhi: India inch closer for a second consecutive World Test Championship Final after taking a 2-0 lead in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Sunday in Delhi.
Rohit Sharma-led India beat Australia by 6 wickets in the 2nd Test to take their total points tally in the standings to 123 points in 16 matches, 13 points behind of table-toppers Australia.
Another win for the Men in Blue will take them to 135 points, which will be more than enough to seal a spot in the Final which is scheduled to be held at the Oval from 7th June onwards. Now it’s down to Sri Lanka, India and Australia as the favourites to go through. If Australia avoid a 4-0 whitewash they will automatically earn their place in the final, given Sri Lanka do not beat New Zealand 2-0 in the upcoming series.
In the first session of the day, where action happened on a frenetic pace, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja registered his best bowling figures in an innings in Test cricket by taking seven wickets (7/42) while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked three wickets (3/59).
Australia, on the other hand, will be mighty disappointed by some extremely questionable shot selection and squandering the advantage they had at stumps on day two. Resuming from 61/1, with a healthy run-rate of 5.08 at the end of day two, Australia imploded spectacularly to lose nine wickets for 53 runs in the morning session on day three. They were playing the sweep and reverse sweep as if this was the only way to play against spin on a pitch which had variable bounce and turn.
India lost 4 wickets in the 115 run-chase but Cheteshwar Pujara and Srikar Bharat held their nerves to take the home-side to a 6-wicket victory. Pujara were not-out on 31, even Rohit also scored 31 before Bharat made 23 to help the Men in Blue achieve their target. Ravindra Jadeja has to be the star of the Test once again as he picked up a total of 10 wickets in the match.