Mohammed Shami's 3 best Test spells vs Australia ahead of WTC Final

We are all set for the Final of the second edition of the World Test Championship set to start on Wednesday, June 7, at the Kennington Oval in London. Both teams, India and Australia, have been preparing well and will be desperate to take home the trophy.

For India, this is an opportunity to end their long wait for an ICC Trophy. India have done well in ICC tournaments but have missed out on silverware owing to failures on big days. Even in the inaugural edition of the WTC, India went down to New Zealand in the final despite dominating that cycle.

Rohit Sharma will be determined to take India across the line this time around and a win this week will be further validation of India's status as a supreme Test team. Pacer Mohammed Shami, who has been in great form recently, will be key to India's hopes in the final. He had a magnificent IPL for the Gujarat Titans, winning the purple cap, and will be looking to carry that form into the WTC Final against an opponent that he has enjoyed playing against.

On that note, here's a look at Mohammed Shami's top-three spells in Test Cricket against the mighty Aussies:

#1 Perth, 2018

In the second Test of the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar series, Australia scored 326 in the first innings, in response to which the Indians made 283. In the second innings, Australia were well placed at 85-3 and had a lead of 128 runs. That is when Shami stood up for the visitors as he picked up wickets regularly to help India bowl Australia out for 243. He returned figures of 6-59, including the wickets of Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Tim Paine, and Nathan Lyon.

Eventually, India lost the Test match because of a poor batting performance as they were dismissed for 140. Still, this performance by Shami is one of his best in the longest format of the game.

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#2 Sydney, 2015

In the Sydney Test of 2015, Australia piled on a score of 572 in the first innings before declaring. It was a terrible performance by India's bowlers apart from Mohammed Shami, who tried his best during the innings. He picked up five of the seven wickets that fell, including Chris Rogers, Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, Joe Burns, and Ryan Harris.

In the second innings, he picked up the huge scalp of Steve Smith, who was in sublime form throughout the series. The game ended in a stalemate but Shami bowled his heart out and his performance in this match will never be forgotten by ardent lovers of the game.

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#3 Adelaide, 2018

In the first Test of the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar series, Mohammed Shami registered figures of 3-65 in the second innings while the Aussies were chasing 323. He picked up the wickets of Marcus Harris and Peter Handscomb, which helped India set the tone. His spell applied a lot of pressure on the hosts, which the other bowlers also benefitted from.

Shami later returned to pick up the wicket of Mitchell Starc as India won the game by 31 runs to take an early lead in the four-match series. He was brilliant throughout the series as India won a Test series down under for the first time.