London: India’s poor show at the ICC events continued as Australia won their maiden World Test Championship title with a crushing 209-run victory on the fifth day of the summit clash here on Sunday.
This was India’s second defeat in successive WTC finals after losing to New Zealand in 2021 in the inaugural edition.
Chasing an improbable target of 444, India started the day at 164 for 3 but soon lost batting mainstay Virat Kohli (49), followed by Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (43) to be bowled out for 234 in 63.3 overs.
Scott Boland (3/46) was the best bowler on view as he removed Kohli and Jadeja in a single over to decisively end the contest and the rest was formality.
Nathan Lyon (4/41), however, had the best figures as he mopped up the tail in a jiffy.
WTC final Scoreboard:
Australia 1st Innings: 469 all out, India 1st Innings: 296 all out
Australia 2nd Innings: 270/8 declared,
India 2nd Innings (overnight: 164/3): Rohit Sharma lbw Lyon 43, Shubman Gill c Green b Boland 18, Cheteshwar Pujara c Carey b Cummins 27, Virat Kohli c Smith b Boland 49, Ajinkya Rahane c Carey b Starc 46, Ravindra Jadeja c Carey b Boland 0, KS Bharat c&b Lyon 23, Shardul Thakur lbw Lyon 0, Umesh Yadav c Carey b Starc 1, Mohammed Shami not out 13, Mohammed Siraj c Cummins b Lyon 1
Extras: (LB-2, W-6, NB-5) 13
Total: (all out in 63.3 overs) 234
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-92, 3-93, 4-179, 5-179, 6-212, 7-213, 8-220, 9-224, 10-234 Bowling: Pat Cummins 13-1-55-1, Scott Boland 16-2-46-3, Mitchell Starc 14-1-77-2, Cameron Green 5-0-13-0, Nathan Lyon 15.3-2-41-4.