Mumbai: Australia defeated India by 209 runs in the final at The Oval to win World Test Championship (WTC) for the first time.
With this, Australia have become the first nation to win all men’s ICC trophies (ODI World Cup, Champions Trophy, T20 World Cup and World Test Championship).
India, who needed 444 runs to win in the second innings, were bundled out for 234 as Australia wrapped up the contest in the opening session of play on the final day.
Travis Head and Steve Smith set the proceedings from day one with centuries each to bundle out Australia for 469 in the first innings.
Ajinkya Rahane’s 89 failed the top-order and helped India save the follow-on, with vital contributions from Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja.
India showed signs of a comeback in the second innings but a 93-run partnership between Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc lifted them to 270/8 before declaring. Chasing a target of 444, India reached 164/3 at the end of the fourth day’s play.
Scott Boland got Australia off to the right start on the final day as he dismissed Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in the same over.
Kohli was caught in the slips by Steve Smith for 49, while Jadeja was out for a duck. After this Rahane played some shots after which he was dismissed by Mitchell Starc for 46 runs.
Shardul Thakur, who scored a half-century in the first innings, failed to open the account this time.
The wickets kept falling and it was Nathan Lyon, who struck the final blow to seal the match for India. Also, India is now the WTC runner-up for the second time in a row.
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