WTC Final: Top five bowling performances in the two-year-long journey
It might just be hours away from the first World-level final for a Test championship, but it has been a heck of a journey for the teams and players to participate in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship. It is surprising how shorter formats like T20Is and ODIs had their World Cups or Wolrd level competitions so early in their life but it took 144 years for Test cricket to finally have its World level competition. There were doubts and aspersions cast over the points system and even the entire system of the WTC and how without the home and away format teams are going to be judged, how will it affect the games as a whole and many more. They still remain there, but could not take away the joy and that these two years of competitive Test cricket have given to the fans. Every game had a context and every move of the teams meant something in the end as it was all leading down to one thing- Lord’s, the mecca of cricket. However, Coronavirus arrived, it changed the points calculations system, turned the hot favourites as teams with outside chance and most importantly shifted the venue of the Final from Lord’s to Southampton. Now at Southampton, there are two teams, India and New Zealand and both of them would fight it out against each other for the ultimate inaugural Trophy. We at OneCricket tracked the journey of the two teams in two separate posts which you can find here and here. But along with the journey of the teams, there were several top-notch performances, both with the bat and the ball. While the top five batting performance of the WTC has already been enlisted here. It’s time to look at the top five bowling performances of the tournament. Josh Hazlewood vs India 2020 When India toured Australia last December, its Test journey towards the defence of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy didn’t really stat well as it folded for its lowest total in Test history (36) in the second innings of the first Test, a Day / Night affair at Adelaide. Part of the reason for that debacle was a menacing spell of fast bowling by a certain man called Josh Hazlewood. Usually the third wheel in the Aussie pace trident of Pat Cummins, Mitchell and Starc and himself, Hazlewood was different that afternoon. Having picked just one wicket in the first innings, where both Starc and Cummins picked four and three each, Hazlewood poured himself out in the second. He was on the money, never leaving his line and length and most importantly never allowing the batsmen to get into their comfort zones. All five of his wickets, except one, were batsmen getting caught behind the wicket by the wicketkeeper and captain Tim Paine. The only time a batsman deceived to charge him down (Ravichandran Ashwin), he bowled a climbing length ball, which got big on the Indian batter and his eventual shot was skied hook which landed safely in the hands of Labuschange at mid-off. His five-wicket haul in which he removed Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha and Ashwin was pivotal in leading the Aussies to a great comeback win. Axar Patel vs England 2021 Playing a Test at your home town ground is special, it’s even more special if it is just your second Test in the career and then going on to picking a six-wicket haul in that game can take you to cloud nine. But how could one describe ending up with an 11 wicket match haul, two five-wicket hauls in the same match and getting a Man of the Match award to go along with all that? It’s indescribable, right? That’s exactly how Axar Patel felt when he played in the first Test at the newly revamped Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The local boy picked up six wickets in the first innings to bowl England out for 112. When India got bowled out for 145 in rely on that, Axar was once again on the money as the 27-year-old took another five-wicket haul to demolish the English batters and bowl them out once again, this time at 81 only. In both the innings, he made Jonny Bairstow, who was just drafted into the team, his bunny. No doubt, there was turn and spin on offer, but to utilise that and take more wickets than Ashwin while being in the same team playing on such a track was a work of the dreams. Jasprit Bumrah vs West Indies 2019 Jasprit Bumarah became only the third Indian ever to take a Test hat-trick and joined the league for Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan. But that hattrick wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t for a DRS call made by India skipper Virat Kohli. The first wicket among the three consecutive wickets that the man from Gujarat took was a peach of a delivery to Darren Bravo, who could do nothing but knick it to KL Rahul in the second slip. The second one, a booming inswinger to Shamarh Brooks, crashing onto his padas and hitting middle and leg as was shown in the review. The third one hit new man Roston Chase on the pads, but it was muted appeal by Bumrah. He was hardly even interested in going for the review after the umpire turned the initial appeal down. But as it turned out to be pitching in line, and hitting the wickets, the 26-year-old Indian pacer had the unlikeliest of the hattricks in his kitty. In that innings he took a total of six wickets, one prior to the hattrick and two post it, forcing West Indies to bundle out for 117. Tim Southee vs India 2020 Tim Southee has been in fine form throughout the World Test Championship picking 51 wickets in the seven games that he has been a part of. However, it was his performance against India in the first Test that got the attention of all the people. In that game, he picked up four wickets in the first innings, playing a great role in restricting India to 165. There was swing on offer and on green top with the overcast condition, Southee can be considered second best only to maybe Jimmy Anderson. He got the wickets of Prithvi Shaw, Rahane and Ashwin along with that of Mohammad Shami. However, it was his second innings five that made all the difference. He removed two settled players Mayank Agarwal (58) and Rishabh Pant (25) to speed up New Zealand’s victory. Along with these wickets, he also removed Hanuma Vihari, Ashwin and Bumrah. Kyle Jamieson vs Pakistan 2020-21 Another New Zealand bowler who pitches it up and tries to swing it, Kyle Jamieson also enters the list with his riveting 11 wicket match haul achieved against Pakistan in the WTC. The tall fast bowler picked five in the first innings which included prized scalps of the likes of skipper Mohammad Rizwan, Fawad Alam and opener Abid Ali. However, it was the second innings and his six-wicket haul in it that impressed the most. To get Azhar Ali’s wicket, who was set and batting quite nicely, Jamieson bowled a leg stump line from around the wicket but kept the balls a bit short of good length. Getting frustrated, Ali finally knicked one as Jamieson’s persistence followed. Along with Azhar he once again removed Rizwana, Faheem Asharaf and Haris Sohail. Special Mention: Stuart Broad vs West Indies 2020 There have been various spells in the WTC which have been great and various bowlers like Lasith Embulduniya from Sri Lanka, Naseem Shah from Pakistan and Jofra Archer from England have had spells to remember but not all of them could be a part of it. However, one spell that deserves a special mention is that of Stuart Broad against West Indies. Having lost the first match against the visitors and then lost their original skipper Joe Root, England were finally forced to call upon Stuart Broad whom they had left earlier in the first Test. With a statement to prove, Broad picked six wickets in the second Test to draw the series level. Then, needing to win the last Test to win the series and take the Wisden Trophy which they had lost to West Indies in 2018, the 34-year-old turned on the heat, picking six wickets in the first innings to roll Windies over for 197. In the second innings, he picked up four more wickets to finish the game with a 10 wicket haul. With the last match of the inaugural edition of the WTC still left to be played, could we be in for a treat and could we see the best bowling spell yet to be bowled? To know all that, walk with OneCricket as we cover the entire action unfolding in the Final of the WTC through our app and website.
 "Mayank Kumar")
