2023 ICC World Test Championship final

The final of the 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship, a Test cricket match, was played from 7 to 11 June 2023 at The Oval, London, between Australia and India. Australia won the match by 209 runs to win the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship. This marked Australia's maiden win of the Championship. As winners, they received a cash prize of US$1.6 million, while the Indian team received a cash prize of US$800,000. The victory in the final established Australia as the first team to have won all ICC tournaments across all three cricket formats.

Background


The World Test Championship league standings were determined based on percentage of matches won by each of the teams during the league stages of the tournament. Geoff Allardice, then acting chief executive of the ICC, explained that this adjustment was made to simplify the calculation process and create a more accurate representation of the teams' achievements. In September 2022, the ICC announced that The Oval in London would host the 2023 ICC World Test Championship Final, the second consecutive time the final was taking place in England. In February 2023, the ICC confirmed that the final would take place from 7 to 11 June 2023, with a reserve day on 12 June.

During the 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship, both Australia and India emerged as the leading teams in terms of points. Going into the final India held the top position in the ICC Men's Test Team Rankings while Australia secured the second spot. Australia made their first-ever appearance in the WTC final, whereas India had previously suffered a defeat against New Zealand in the 2021 final. Their most recent test series, the 2022-23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, was the last encounter between the two teams. On past performances, Australia had recorded only seven wins out of the 38 Test matches played at The Oval, while India had managed just two victories.

It is only the second instance of these two teams clashing in a final of a major ICC Event, the first being 20 years back in 2003 World Cup final at Johannesburg, South Africa where the Ricky Ponting-led mighty Australian team bamboozled a spirited Indian side led by Sourav Ganguly by a huge margin of 125 runs to successfully defend their title and win it for the third time.

Just weeks before the final, ICC made a change to the "soft signal rule", an umpire's input to the decision review system, stating that the rule would not be in effect starting from the World Test Championship final. On 7 June 2023, on the eve of the first day's play, ICC took measures to address potential disruptions from the intervention of Just Stop Oil protesters. Precautionary measures included preparation of a backup pitch for the final.

Results
Source:

Changes

 * On 5 May 2023, K. L. Rahul was ruled out due to a thigh injury and on 8 May 2023, Ishan Kishan was announced as his replacement.
 * On 4 June 2023, Josh Hazlewood was ruled out due to an Achilles and side issue, with Michael Neser was named as his replacement.

Match officials

 * On-field umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Richard Illingworth (Eng)
 * Third umpire: Richard Kettleborough (Eng)
 * Reserve umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SL)
 * Match referee: Richie Richardson (WI)

Day 1
Australian opener David Warner made a steady start for his team, while his partner Usman Khawaja fell for a duck to Mohammad Siraj's delivery. By the lunch break, Australia had reached a score of 73/2. Shortly after lunch, Marnus Labuschagne was dismissed by Mohammed Shami. Travis Head, batting at number five, adopted an aggressive approach and scored runs quickly, surpassing the fifty-run mark before tea. At that stage, Australia's total stood at 170/3. Following tea, Head and Steve Smith formed a valuable partnership, reaching the milestone of a hundred runs together. Smith also completed his fifty during the course of their partnership. In the 66th over, Head achieved the significant feat of scoring a century, marking his first century outside of Australia. By the end of the day's play, the partnership between Smith and Head had reached 251 runs, with Australia finishing strongly at 327/3. Head's individual score stood at 146, while Smith remained unbeaten on 95.

Day 2
On the second day of the match, Smith also reached the milestone of scoring a century for the thirty-first time in Test cricket. However, the Indian pacers soon started taking wickets. Travis Head was dismissed by Siraj, followed by a quick succession of wickets with Cameron Green and Smith both falling, the latter being bowled by Shardul Thakur. By lunchtime, Australia's score stood at 422/7. After the break, the wickets continued to tumble at one end while Alex Carey showed resilience with a knock of 48 before being adjudged lbw to Ravindra Jadeja. At a total of 469, the last tailender and captain Pat Cummins departed after being caught by Ajinkya Rahane at the covers.

It was then time for the Indian openers, Shubman Gill and captain Rohit Sharma, to take the field. However, Sharma was dismissed by opposition skipper Cummins, and shortly after, Gill made a judgment error and was bowled. As tea approached, India found themselves at 30/2, with Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease. In the last session of the day, India continued to lose wickets, with Kohli and Pujara being dismissed by Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green, respectively. Jadeja increased the scoring rate for the team before being caught by Smith off the bowling of Nathan Lyon. As the day concluded, India were on 151/5, with Rahane on 29, accompanied by wicketkeeper-batsman K. S. Bharat.

Day 3
At the beginning of the third day, Bharat fell swiftly to Scott Boland's bowling, while Thakur survived a dropped catch in the slips. Rahane eventually reached the fifty with a six, albeit being given another lifeline when Warner dropped him. Cummins appeared to have Thakur dismissed lbw, but the decision was overturned due to a no-ball, similar to what happened with Rahane the previous day. Approaching the lunch break, India's score reached 260/6. Shortly after lunch, Rahane's innings came to an end as he was caught by Green while on 89. Thakur managed to complete his fifty, but his dismissal triggered a collapse in India's score, concluding at 296 and trailing by 173 runs.

Australia's second innings commenced with an early setback, as Warner was caught behind off Siraj's bowling. By tea, Australia had reached 23/1. However, in the post-tea session, Khawaja also fell victim to a catch behind off Umesh Yadav's delivery. Labuschagne and Smith then formed a fifty partnership, but their progress was halted when Smith's aggressive shot was caught off Jadeja's bowling. Head, who had displayed exceptional form in the previous innings, entered the crease but soon fell prey to a caught and bowled off Jadeja's delivery, two balls after Yadav's fumble resulted in an unintended six. Australia concluded the day at 123/4, holding a lead of 296 runs.

Day 4
On the fourth day's commencement, Labuschagne was caught in the slip cordon by Pujara. Green and Carey displayed determined batting, forging a partnership that approached the fifty-run mark until Green's dismissal, wherein the ball dislodged the bails in an unconventional manner. By lunchtime, Australia's score stood at 201/6. As play resumed, Carey reached his half-century after previously missing out, while Starc exhibited quick scoring at the other end. By the 79th over, Australia's lead exceeded 400 runs. Following Starc's departure on 41, Cummins was soon caught, prompting the declaration of the innings.

With a target of 444 runs, India faced the task of chasing down what would have been a record-breaking chase in Test cricket. The openers adopted an aggressive approach, scoring at a run-a-ball rate, until a contentious slip catch was claimed by Green off the bat of Gill. Before tea, India had reached 41/1 in 7 overs of their innings. Upon resumption, Pujara and Sharma constructed a fifty-run partnership, but Sharma fell victim to an lbw decision while attempting a lap-sweep off Lyon's bowling. Soon after, Pujara also departed. However, Kohli and Rahane formed a seventy-run partnership, with Kohli on 44* and Rahane on 20*. As on the final day, India had to chase down a target of 280 runs.

Day 5
On the final day of the game, the momentum shifted in favour of Australia as Kohli, batting at 49, edged a delivery that was caught by Smith, diving to his right to collect it two-handed. Two balls later, Jadeja fell victim to Boland's delivery, departing the field without adding any runs to the scoreboard. For India, the wickets continued to tumble, and they were eventually bowled out for a total of 234 runs. With this result, Australia emerged victorious in the 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship, securing a 209-run win. Travis Head, who made significant contributions, received player of the match award. This achievement established Australia as the first and, thus far, the only team to have won all ICC tournaments.

Scorecard Source:
 * Australia 1st innings

Fall of wickets: 1–2 (Khawaja, 3.4 ov), 2–71 (Warner, 21.4 ov), 3–76 (Labuschagne, 24.1 ov), 4–361 (Head, 91.1 ov), 5–376 (Green, 94.2 ov), 6–387 (Smith, 98.1 ov), 7–402 (Starc, 103.5 ov), 8–453 (Carey, 114.4 ov), 9–468 (Lyon, 119.5 ov), 10–469 (Cummins, 121.3 ov)


 * India 1st innings

Fall of wickets: 1–30 (Rohit, 5.6 ov), 2–30 (Gill, 6.4 ov), 3–50 (Pujara, 13.5 ov), 4–71 (Kohli, 18.2 ov), 5–142 (Jadeja, 34.3 ov), 6–152 (Bharat, 38.2 ov), 7–261 (Rahane, 61.6 ov), 8–271 (Yadav, 65.5 ov), 9–294 (Thakur, 68.3 ov), 10–296 (Shami, 69.4 ov)


 * Australia 2nd innings

Fall of wickets: 1–2 (Warner, 3.3 ov), 2–24 (Khawaja, 14.1 ov), 3–86 (Smith, 30.1 ov), 4–111 (Head, 36.3 ov), 5–124 (Labuschagne, 46.4 ov), 6–167 (Green, 62.6 ov), 7–260 (Starc, 82.6 ov), 8–270 (Cummins, 84.3 ov)


 * India 2nd innings

Fall of wickets: 1–41 (Gill, 7.1 ov), 2–92 (Rohit, 19.5 ov), 3–93 (Pujara, 20.4 ov), 4–179 (Kohli, 46.3 ov), 5–179 (Jadeja, 46.5 ov), 6–212 (Rahane, 56.2 ov), 7–213 (Thakur, 57.4 ov), 8–220 (Yadav, 60.2 ov), 9–224 (Bharat, 61.5 ov), 10–234 (Siraj, 63.3 ov)

Broadcasting
The ICC also named the following panel of commentators for the final:
 * Harsha Bhogle
 * Sunil Gavaskar
 * Matthew Hayden
 * Nasser Hussain
 * Dinesh Karthik
 * Justin Langer
 * Alison Mitchell
 * Ricky Ponting
 * Kumar Sangakkara
 * Ravi Shastri