India and Australia played out an exciting first session of play for the World Test Championships. The final saw Australia head into lunch at 73/2 from 23 overs after India won the toss and chose to bowl first. Australian batters had to endure a hostile spell by Siraj and Shami during the morning session before lunch.
Mohammad Shami strikes first ball after lunch –
The eyes of the fans were on Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith as they came into bat after the lunch break. Labuschagne in particular was being troubled by the steep bounce from the Indian bowlers.
After safely seeing out the 1st over by Siraj post the lunch break, Rohit Sharma got in Mohammad Shami from the other end. The 32 year old seamer bowled the ball which held its line and beat Labuschagne’s defense to get rid off for 26.
Shami Strikes 💥💥💥💥💥💥#WTC2023 #WTCFinal #shami #india pic.twitter.com/38dhxeIuQf
— CricketTweet (@CricketBoy_here) June 7, 2023
Shami gets Marnus Labuschagne (No.1 Test Batsman)
— Vinayak (@vinayaksayswhat) June 7, 2023
Incredible length, incredible bowling.
All eyes on Smith now!
WTCFinal pic.twitter.com/D6jsagvhdx
Warner and Labuschagne fight back after early loss –
Usman Khawaja fell for a duck as he was caught behind by KS Bharat off Siraj. After scoring just 26 runs from the first 12 overs, David Warner and Labuschagne started to change gears. Warner in particular hit Umesh Yadav for 16 runs off his 2nd over to get the scoring rate going.
Thakur gets the big wicket of Warner –
Just when the pair of Warner and Labuschagne were looking dangerous, India got a huge breakthrough. Shardul Thakur bowling round the wicket bowled a short ball as Warner went for a pull. The left hander could only get a big edge as Bharat dived to get his 2nd catch. Warner was out for 43 off 60 balls with 8 fours in his knock.
Huge session for both the teams –
At the time of writing, Australia were 118/3 in the 34th over with Steve Smith on 13. The impetus to the scoring rate was given by Travis Head who was batting on 31 off 24 balls with 6 fours to give Australia the advantage.
India on the other hand will be banking on Shami and Siraj with Thakur and Yadav as support to make headways into the Australian batting line up. Few more wickets before the tea break will give Rohit Sharma and CO a huge push going into the final session.