As Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill came out to bat for the second innings of the ICC World Test Championship Final, the pressure, undoubtedly, was on India. Australia had finished the second innings with a daunting lead of 443 runs, after declaring at 270/8.
A day and a half to chase what would be a world record. India have the recent history of pulling off stunning things in the fourth innings too. These two have that experience. On Sunday in London, they had the crowd support. For India to stand a chance, they needed something out of the extraordinary.
And thus, came the intent and counter-attack that Sharma brought with him. It was a huge positive and instilled hope because the discourse during the course of the Test was often about India’s disappointing body language, dropping shoulders and lack of aggression.
WTC Final, AUS vs IND, Day 4 as it happened: Kohli, Rahane rebuild; India need 280 more on Day 5
When it looked like India was going to go for the shots, with the run rate going nearly a run-a-ball at one point, it did appear like they had learnt from their mistakes in the first innings and decided to capitalise on the batting conditions on offer with…
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