A fired-up Australia sped to a 209-run victory in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval, quickly dashing Indian dreams of pulling off a last-day miracle.
India's second innings was on 164-3 when Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane came out to resume it, needing to score 280 runs on the final day to surpass Australia's enormous total of 444. However, as Scott Boland and his fellow bowlers ripped through the Indian batting order to remove the top-ranked team in the world for 234, the raucous supporters were reduced to silence and dejection and the victory was secured before noon.
In the seventh over of the day, Kohli edged fast bowler Boland to a great catch at second slip by Steve Smith and was gone for 49. Boland got Ravindra Jadeja in the same over.
India chased the match from the first morning and the demise of Kohli confirmed it was a matter of when, not if, Australia would become the first-time world test champions. Rahane, on 20 overnight, reached 46 when he edged Starc behind and began a collapse of the last five India wickets in the 30 minutes before lunch.
Boland started Australia’s celebrations with his two wickets, and Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon also took two each in the morning. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey had four catches in the innings.
It was India’s second successive defeat in the WTC final, they lost their last seven wickets for the addition of just 70 runs on the final day of the contest.