WTC Final 2023, IND vs. AUS Live Score: Steve Smith (95) And Travis Head (146), Unbeaten!

With Day 1 of the WTC Final 2023 ending, Steve Smith inched really close to a century, and Travis Head is consistently ruling the field after scoring his century. The unbeaten Smith and Head have kept Australia ticking, ending Day 1 at 327/3.

This consistency was much needed considering India did strike the Australian team with an unexpected early blow post-lunch when Marnus Labuschagne was snapped up by Mohammed Shami.

Earlier, the Australian Cricket Team managed to score 73/2 by lunch at the Kennington Oval. Even before the break, India was able to take out the very on-song David Warner – Warner had scored only 43 at that time. And then Usman Khawaja went out for a duck, thanks to Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. 

This happened right after the Indian team opted for Rohit Sharma to bowl first in the WTC Final 2023 against Australia and left out Ravichandran Ashwin, one of the best test bowlers in the world. 

Australia and India are currently competing for perhaps the best prize in the world of Test cricket as they play the 2nd WTC final.

The World Test Championship Final spans across a 5-day one-off test match with one reserve day in case weather conditions interfere with any of the matches. When India and New Zealand played at Southhampton in the WTC final 2021, the rain did interfere with the match proceedings. 

#WTCFinal #WTCFinal2023 #INDvAUS #INDvsAUS

Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

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In this context, Ravi Shastri, former coach of the Indian cricket team, said a few words.

“From what came out today, the mindset of India was to field if they won the toss, hence the choices in the bowling department — four seamers and one spinner. If the mindset were positive, you’d want to bat, rough it out in the first session and see if you can put 250 on board. Don’t think too big! 250-260, and if the conditions got better and you saw the first session through, you could have got more. I think Australia is in a prime position now. It’s up to them to allow India back into the game, they batted beautifully, especially in the first session of play, and that really set things up.”