India needs 280 runs more to win the ICC WTC 2023 final with 7 wickets in hand.
Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik and former Australia coach Justin Langer shared their thoughts on which team will emerge as the winner of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023 Final) which is underway at the Oval with India needing 444 runs to win the match.
India finished day 4 on 164/3 with Virat Kohli on 44* and Ajinkya Rahane on 20* with 280 runs more needed on day 5. India lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma (43), Shubman Gill (18), and Cheteshwar Pujara (27) in their pursuit of the highest target ever in Tests.
“I think it’s loaded in favor of Australia but India will feel that they’ve given themselves a chance today. Coming in tomorrow with 280 to get, there is a good chance that if India bats well, they might sneak in the door and that’s what they would have wanted out of today. It was very good to watch, very entertaining, the crowd was enjoying and so were all of us,” said Dinesh Karthik to ICC.
If India manages to chase down the 444-run target, it will be the highest run chase achieved in the history of Test cricket. Langer believes that that outcome is possible, even though the chances of it happening are slim.
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“Isn’t it great to see Test cricket going into day 5 and it’s still on. It’s been an amazing Test match. After Australia dominated day 1, the next 3 days have been brilliant to watch to the point now with Virat Kohli on 44* and Rahane on 20*, they’ll just have a tiny little sniff of hope which is exciting for the Test match,” said Langer to the ICC.
Langer also felt that the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara might have hampered India’s chances of a win majorly as he said India has lost two wickets too many.
“I still think they’re probably 1 or 2 wickets too many tonight, I am sure Rohit Sharma the captain will be very disappointed with his dismissal, and then Pujara with his dismissal after Rohit Sharma, within an over of each other. Pujara is the concentration king, it’s one of the few lapses in concentration we’ve seen from Pujara for as long as I’ve been watching him over the last few years,” said Langer.
India and Australia both are chasing history to become the first team to win all ICC tournaments.