India captain Rohit Sharma had an excellent start to the first day of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final against Australia which got underway at the Oval in London on June 7.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl first as the day was overcast at the beginning and then Mohammed Siraj gave them a good start by dismissing Usman Khawaja for a duck and then Shardul Thakur accounted for David Warner for 43 runs.
Though Marnus Labuschagne looked good for his 26, Mohammad Shami had the better of him as he rattled his timbers shortly after lunch, leaving Australia 76/3.
But then, it was all Travis Head and Steve Smith as the duo put up almost 200 runs for the 4th wicket with Head stroking a marvelous century, the first-ever in a WTC final. Smith has been the anchor for Australia, while Head hammered the Indian bowling.
Meanwhile, at the start of the day, eagle-eyed viewers noticed a moment while Rohit Sharma was walking out in his team India blazer for the toss. Rohit was making his way down the steps en route to the ground at the Oval when he seemed to stumble slightly.
Incidentally, the stumble happened just as he was passing a fan who was holding up a poster that said, “Virat you will always be my captain”.
Virat Kohli was the Indian captain when they played the WTC 2021 final against New Zealand in Southampton and lost the encounter.
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