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WTC 2023: Fluent Kohli & Steady Rahane Help India To Fight Another Day

image-liqa8qp2Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane [Image- Twitter]

The evening session of the 4th day's play between India and Australia proved to be a tantalising affair as an unbeaten 71-run-stand between Virat Kohli (44* off 60) and Ajinkya Rahane (20* off 59) helped the No.1 ranked side recover from back-to-back blows in the form of Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara.

Having started the session at 1/49, Rohit and Pujara batted positively to add 43 runs in just over 12 overs before calamity struck.


Talking Points

Australia remove Rohit, Pujara in quick succession

Rohit went for the fatal paddle sweep against Nathan Lyon and proceeded to miss it, and was trapped plumb in front.

Then, Pujara had his share of the brain fade as he attempted to upper-cut Pat Cummins, only to nick it to Alex Carey.

All of a sudden, India were 3/93, and with so much time to go in the evening session, it looked as if Australia would have shred into their middle-order by the end of it.

Kohli, Rahane come to resue

However, Kohli took control of the proceedings with positive intent as he kept milking singles while also putting the bad balls away through audacious strokeplay.

Rahane, meanwhile, was a lot more conservative than he was in the 1st innings but he proceeded to blunt out the tough spells well.

Kohli was slightly lucky in the final over of the session when he inside-edged Lyon and the ball lobbed to the left of Carey, but Steve Smith, despite his best efforts couldn't latch on to it.

Kohli negotiated the rest of the deliveries confidently to ensure that India went to Stumps at 164/3, needing an improbable 280 more runs to win the final.


Expectations

India might have started the chase positively, but the task is still a long way to go. With 280 runs more runs to get, the likes of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat, Shardul Thakur and the Indian tail will have to come to the party if they are eying to successfully chase down the highest target in Test cricket's history.

 Notably, there are some thunderstorms also forecasted on Day 5 of the WTC Final.


Brief Scores

India - 164/3 - Virat Kohli 44* (60), Ajinkya Rahane 20* (59); 

Nathan Lyon 1/32 (11), Scott Boland 1/38 (11).

India require 280 runs to win.