Southampton: It's not usual that we do not write a Match Report at the end of Day 5 of a Test match. But such has been the nature of this rain-struck World Test Championship Final. So we do have a reserved day in this WTC Final 2021. On stumps at Day 5, India led by 32 runs with Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara batting.
As an Indian fan, one might say that the Day 5 of the Test match was good from their point of view. It would have been ideal if Rohit Sharma's wicket wouldn't have gone down, but nonetheless, India has a second innings lead.
Click HERE for Full Scorecard of World Test Championship Final
The day began well for the New Zealand batsmen. India did not pick a single wicket for the first hour. Williamson and Taylor settled in, but not for long as Mohammed Shami picked up the wicket of Ross Taylor. Later, New Zealand batting did not show much promise and none of their batsman after Devon Conway were able to score beyond 50 runs.
New Zealand went past India's score of 217 but not by much. They were all out for 249 runs. Shami was the pick of India's bowlers with 4 wickets, Ishant Sharma also bowled well and picked up 3 wickets including the wicket of Kane Williamson.
India came on to bat and lost Shubhman Gill pretty early on 24/1. India also lost the wicket of Rohit Sharma before the close of play on Day 5. As two full days of WTC Final were washed out in the rain, there is a reserve day in place.
So, we will have 98 more overs of play left in this Final.