World Test Championship final: Rohit Sharma’s India chases elusive glory in Oval showdown Premium

The World Test Championship final offers India the opportunity to win its first ICC title since 2013. But it is missing key match-winners and faces a formidable Australian side

India will be banking on a glorious, relatively dry English summer as well as its recent Test record against Australia to end a 10-year global title drought. 

After the Champions Trophy triumph in England in 2013, the team has come close in major ICC tournaments across formats only to flounder, often in the semifinals. But having made the World Test Championship final for the second consecutive cycle, the side will be keen to go one step further than it did in 2021, when it lost to New Zealand in cold, rainy Southampton.

This time, the opponent is formidable Australia but India will enjoy a psychological edge, having beaten the Aussies in four successive Test series, twice at home and twice away. 

It must be noted, however, that a one-off Test on neutral territory alters the nature of the contest and presents unique challenges. Teams need to adapt quickly and start strongly because there is less time to work with. A four-match series allows a side that falls behind more opportunities to come back than a solitary Test.

Given the injuries to key Indian players, Australia is the favourite in the WTC final to be played at The Oval from next Wednesday. On paper, it’s a complete side, with no obvious weakness.

It has one of the most audacious openers in modern cricketing history, even if he no longer is the force he once was, in David Warner, the silky-punching Usman Khawaja, that frighteningly freakish cricketing spirit called Steve Smith, the method artist in Marnus Labuschagne, the brutal counter-puncher in Travis Head and the towering all-rounder Cameron Green. 

Add a proven bowling attack, with pacers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who can each win a match in a five-over spell, and veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon, and you can see why India will have its task cut out.