India were in for a long day at The Oval as Australia belted 327/3 on Day 1 of the World Test Championship final. After India raced away to three wickets dismissing Usman Khawaja, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Steve Smith added an unbeaten partnership of 251 runs to keep the Indian bowlers at bay. Head completed his sixth Test century, while Smith is closing in on his 31st as the Indian thinktank was left pretty clueless on what transpired on the opening day of the WTC final, especially given the kind of start their bowlers had.
In overcast conditions, the Indian pace duo of Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami had tested Australia with immaculate line, length, seam and swing, but once the ball got old by 10 overs and the skies opened up, batting became easy. The decision to go in with four pacers and leave R Ashwin out of the Playing XI didn’t seem rosy anymore. Khawaja was sent packing for a duck by Siraj and David Warner’s return to form was cut short by Shardul Thakur. Labuschagne wasn’t allowed much scope to play himself in, and was constantly troubled, escaping with a couple of DRS calls. After two LBW calls which Marnus survived, Labuschagne was cleaned through the gate with a perfect Shami delivery that held its line after pitching.
There were few positives for the Indian team on an otherwise long day, the most prominent of which was KS Bharat. With his clean wicketkeeping and two catches, Bharat justified his selection over Ishan Kishan in India’s Playing XI, first taking a regulation catch to dismiss Khawaja and then flying to his right to take a sharp catch to get rid of Warner. Additionally, another piece of wicketkeeping that Bharat made news for was when he collected a high, fast-paced delivery off Shami. Smith trying to pull the ball, missed it before Bharat put in a jump timely and completed the take.
Hussain hails ‘brave man’ KS Bharat
However, as the ball went past the bat, there seemed to be a sound. Despite being given not out originally by the on-field umpire, a few Indian fielders behind the bat seemed excited, the most animated of which was Virat Kohli. The former India captain was certain that the ball had hit the gloves, but in a rare sight, he was calmed and talked into not taking the review or convincing captain Rohit Sharma for it by Bharat, an act which was hailed by former England captain Nasser Hussain.
“He was very tough with Virat Kohli. Not easy to overrule Kohli but that’s exactly what he did. Kohli wanted to review that but Bharat, playing in his 5th Test match, had to run to King Kohli and say ‘Nope, you got that wrong’ Brave man, but right,” he said while doing commentary.
Shastri goes ‘Virat, Calm Down’
Ravi Shastri weighed in on the episode and said that not many have the courage to convince Kohli to chance his decision. “He jolly well be a senior,” the former India coach said when asked by Justin Langer if there are players in the team who can resist Kohli and oppose his decisions. “Yes, these batsmen, and the competition. If it was anybody else, he would have been half as expressive. In fact, Pujara of all people had to say, ‘Virat, calm down. calm down’.”
