WTC Final, Day 1: India Remove Australia Openers in a Shared Morning Session at The Oval

David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne braved a probing first hour of play in challenging conditions to negate an early blow after Australia were put in to bat first by India in the final of the ICC World Test Championship final on Wednesday. Under overcast conditions, Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first and Mohammed Siraj removed Usman Khawaja for a duck to back his captain’s call.

Australia were 73/2 in 23 overs when the lunch break was taken on Day 1 of the WTC final being played at Oval in London.

Also Read: WTC Final Day 1 Blog

Warner and Marnus Labuschagne did the hard work as they were beaten on the outside edge multiple times with the pair of Siraj and Mohammed Shami keeping it tight throughout. Labuschagne copped a blow to his thumb as well that required intervention from the team physio.

Eventually, the sun came out and the boundary flow began. Warner was at the forefront of the counterattack as he smashed four fours in an over of Umesh Yadav who erred by offering the Aussie opener width to cop punishment in return.

The ball was moving, the odd one rising sharply off the deck. Khawaja played nine deliveries without scoring a run before Siraj got one to nip away and kiss the edge for a simple catch to wicketkeeper KS Bharat.

A 69-run partnership followed as Warner and Labuschagne settled in. In between, India made a couple of DRS calls – the first of them they retained thanks to umpire’s call but lost the next as the ball was projected to be missing the stumps. Both the calls came in successive overs of Shardul Thakur.

With the lunch break approaching, it appeared Australia will take the first session despite the early jolt. Thakur strangled Warner down the leg-side as the Bharat was called into action again as he moved to his right for a fine catch to put an end to the lefty’s innings on 43.