Ind Vs Australia
The third Test match of the Border-Gavaskar series being played between India and Australia is going to start from tomorrow. India have taken a 2-0 lead after winning the first two Tests and would like to seal their place in the final of the WTC by winning the third Test starting tomorrow. As before the start of the series, India had to win the Border-Gavaskar series 3-1 but now India has already won two matches so now India has to win 1 more match out of the remaining two test matches to reach the final of WTC and thus India will play the final of WTC for the second time in a row.
Last time New Zealand defeated India in the final of WTC. This time India has a golden opportunity to win the Test Championship trophy. At present, Australia has failed to show their mettle in the ongoing series and they have not been able to compete with India in any way.
If we talk about the last two Test matches, then Australia was all out for only 177 runs in the first innings of the first Test, Marnus Labushen scored the maximum 49 runs for Australia. Ravindra Jadeja had the biggest hand in breaking Australia's back in the first innings, who sent 5 batsmen to the pavilion for 47 runs while putting 8 maidens in 22 overs. And in response, India scored 400 runs thanks to Rohit Sharma's brilliant century (120), Ravindra Jadeja (70) and Akshar Patel (84) brilliant half-centuries.
After that, in the second innings, Australia's condition got worse and the whole team could not even touch the score of 100 and got all out for 91 runs and in this innings, Steve Smith (25) scored the most runs for Australia. Ashwin replaced Jadeja in the second innings and he also sent 5 batsmen to the pavilion and thus India won the first Test match by 1 inning and 132 runs.
In the second Test, Australia did a little better in the first innings with the help of brilliant half-centuries from Usman Khawaja (81) and Peter Handscomb (72) and scored 263 runs and India replied with half-century from Akshar Patel (74) and Ashwin's (37) runs and Scored 262 runs with the help of these two and Australia took a lead of 1 run.
In the second innings, the Australian team was unable to perform well and the whole team was once again got all out for only 113 runs cheaply. Set a target of 115 to win, India made 118/4 to win the second Test by 6 wickets.
Thus, India is leading the series 2-0 after winning the first two Tests and would like to reach the final of the WTC along with the series by winning the third Test starting from March 1, 2023. On the other hand, the pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja is making an impact, both have taken 31 out of 40 wickets in 4 innings of the last 2 Tests, which is quite impressive for India.
Meanwhile, Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the third Test match due to his mother's ill health and this is a big blow for Australia as Pat Cummins leads the pace bowling attack of the Australian team. In his absence, Steve Smith will take over the captaincy. The Indian team knows that Steve Smith is a wonderful player, so the Indian team would like to get him out as soon as possible.
If we talk about Steve Smith, then he has scored 15 centuries while captaining in Test matches. And talking about his total centuries in Tests, he has scored 30 centuries in 166 innings of 94 Test matches and has also scored 8718 runs.
Earlier in the second Test, which was played in Delhi, David Warner was hit by Mohammad Siraj's ball and he is now out of the entire Test series. But it is possible that he can play in India vs Australia ODI series as Australia board has not given any statement on Warner for ODI series.
On the other hand, if we talk about KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, then both have failed to have their mark in this Test series. If we leave Virat Kohli's first innings of the second test in which he scored an untimely 44 runs, he has yet to do better, there was a lot of ruckus even when he was dismissed in the second test because even the third umpire could not be sure that the ball was first Hit with bat or pad. On the other hand, the condition of KL Rahul is even worse who has scored 20, 17 and 1 runs in the last 3 innings.
***** After all, why can Australia's problems increase? *****
An other series between SL vs NZ can cause problems for Australia. Sri Lanka will enter the final of the World Test Championship if India wins the Border-Gavaskar series 4-0 and Sri Lanka beats New Zealand 2-0 in the 2-Test series starting from March 9 2023 and the final will then be played between India and Sri Lanka. For Australia, at least 1 of the remaining 2 Test matches in the Border-Gavaskar series will be as much as they want to play the final of the World Test Championship.
*********** Virat vs Smith************
Virat Kohli's form in Test matches has not been special for some time now and for this reason Steve Smith has now overtaken him in terms of runs and his average of 60 is much higher than Kohli's average of 48. In terms of runs, Steve Smith has gone ahead of Virat Kohli by 523 runs. Let's see whether the Australian team can make a comeback tomorrow or not. By apkiduniya.com