WTC Final: Australia lead with 296 runs against India on day 3 at Oval in England
In Cricket, Australia were 123 for 4 at stumps in their second innings with a lead of 296 runs against India on the third day of the World Test Championship final at the Oval in England. Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green will resume at their respective scores of 41 and 7 this afternoon.
Earlier, India posted 296 runs in their first innings in response to Australia’s 469. Ajink Rahane scored brilliant 89 for India while Australian Travis Head and Steve Smiths scored 163 and 121 respectively.
This is team India’s second consecutive WTC final in as many editions. India lost to New Zealand in the final of the inaugural edition of the championship.
A 109-run opening session, headlined by a century stand between Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur, was followed by a slow-moving session as India tried to wrest control. However, the status quo did not change with Australia still retaining their dominant position at the end of Day 3 of the WTC final at The Oval on Friday (June 9).
Having bowled India out for 296, Australia ended the day at 123/4, scoring 100 of those runs in the final session to stretch their lead to 296.
The Australian pacers began the day with probing lengths, making the most of their height to generate bounce and trouble the Indian batters. After KS Bharat was bowled by Scott Boland off the second ball of the day, Thakur was struck on his forearm multiple times by Pat Cummins while Rahane too was struck on his fingers. Nevertheless, the seventh wicket pair battled it out with some positive batting to lead the fightback against Australia.
