Match Details
Date: June 7-11, 2023
Time : 3:00 PM IST
Venue : The Oval, London
Live Ball-By-Ball Commentary : SportsTiger App
Preview
Australia are scheduled to play against India in the all-important World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023 at The Oval in London from June 7 onwards. Both these teams played a fully-fledged Test series as the part of Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), which India won at home by the margin of 2-1 after four pulsating matches.
Meanwhile, in the last four Test series between the two nations, the Indians have managed to defeat the Australians, both home and away, twice each, by a 2-1 scoreline. But still, the team from the southern hemisphere, under Pat Cummins leadership is expected to pose more than a stiff challenge to their South Asian rivals in the WTC final, who are captained by Rohit Sharma.
Pitch Report
The pitches for Test cricket at The Oval in London are generally very good for batting for the first half of the game, if the openers manage to survive the early onslaught from the new ball bowlers. The average score in the first innings of a Test match at this venue is 343, while it steadily dips for the remainder of the innings as the game progresses.
Team Analysis
Australia
The batting order of the Australian cricket team has been very consistent across conditions in the 2021-23 WTC cycle. Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, and Steve Smith are three of the top order batters who have put together a magnitude of runs to help the Aussies reach the summit clash in Test cricket. In the bowling department, the captain Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon have been the heart and soul of Australia, who have plugged away relentlessly with the ball over the last couple of years to be a step away from winning the WTC final.
SportsTiger Playing XI of Australia
Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India
Team India's batting lineup was hugely dependent on a few individual players during the WTC 2021-23 cycle, including the likes of captain Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rishabh Pant, who is currently out of action due to an unfortunate accident. The return to form for Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in recent Test matches, is a good sign for India as they look to win their first ICC trophy in over a decade. Looking at the bowling, the standout performers with the ball for the Indians were the experienced quartet of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah, who will miss out on the WTC final, due to a back injury.
SportsTiger Playing XI of India
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Match Prediction
Conclusion
The conditions at The Oval in London are going to favour the Australian bowlers more in comparison to their counterparts, especially in the first half of the WTC final. But if India manages to take the game deep into day 4 and so on, then they will have their chance to upstage the opposition.
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