India's ICC title drought since 2013 continues as they succumbed to a 209- run defeat in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Oval in London on Sunday (June 11). Despite winning the toss and inviting Australia to bat first in overcast conditions in England, India conceded 469 runs in the first innings which ultimately turned out to be the difference between the two sides. Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121) scored stunning hundreds for Australia and even as Mohammed Siraj scalped a four-wicket haul, Australia managed to post a formidable total in the given conditions.
In response, riding on a gutsy 89 from Ajinkya Rahane and a 51 from Shardul Thakur, Team India only managed to ensure that they cross the follow-on mark and post 296. Australia captain Pat Cummins with figures of 3 for 83 was the stand out bowler for the Aussies in their first innings. In the second innings, Australia declared their innings at 270/8 with Alex Carey remaining unbeaten on 66. While India needed 444 to win, with the kind of start that they got, it looked like the match would go down to the wire when India finished Day 4 on 164/3 with 280 needed to win on the final day and both the unbeaten batters Virat Kohli and Rahane looking in good nick.
However, Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja got out in the same over not much after the game started on Day 5 after which Team India batters couldn't quite recover. There were some questionable stroke making from the Indian batters with the pitch not having any such demons but still the Men in Blue losing all their remaining 7 wickets in the first session itself. Nathan Lyon finished as the pick of the bowlers in the second innings for Australia finishing with figures for 4 for 41, helping the Aussies clean up the Indian tail apart from dismissing Rohit early on Day 4.
As a result of this victory, the Kangaroos have now become the first team in the world to bag all the ICC titles including the ODI World Cup, the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy as well as the WTC.