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Australia's Steve Smith has stressed the importance of his catch to dismiss Virat Kohli to set the ball rolling for the Aussies on Day 5 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Oval. The Aussies eventually won the game by a massive 209-run margin to capture their first WTC title.
Chasing 444 for an unlikely victory, India started the final day at 164-3, garnering hopes of pulling off a miraculous win. But Smith's diving catch at second slip to get rid of Kohli snuffed out any possible hope of an Indian triumph.
The former Indian captain looked flawless and assured in his stay in the middle but could not resist driving against Scott Boland to fall a run short of his half-century.
Smith felt the wicket of Virat, especially in a run- chase was crucial for Australia to emerge victorious.
"Big moment. We obviously know how good a player Virat is, particularly in chases so we knew it was an important wicket to get and fortunately it stuck in the hands and things sort of happened quickly from there," he told ICC after the game.
Smith credited Boland for his relentless bowling and sensational over to dismiss both Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja at the start of Day 5 as the key to Australia coming out on top.
"I thought Scott Boland was outstanding this morning. It was a really good spell the way he set Virat up early on and beat the bat a couple of times and finally found the edge and then got Jadeja who has been a bit of a thorn in our back I suppose because he always competes really well. So those two wickets really set the morning up for us and it was sort of smooth sailing almost from there," added Smith.
Boland dismissed Kohli and Jadeja inside three deliveries to leave India reeling at 179-5. Rohit Sharma and Co. were eventually blown away by the impressive Australian attack for a paltry 234, resulting in a crushing defeat.
"We've achieved something really good together as a group" - Steve Smith
Steve Smith hailed Australia's achievement to be crowned as World Test Champions but remained conscious, with the Ashes starting Friday, June 16.
The champion batter was instrumental in the Aussies' 209-run victory over India in the WTC final, scoring a sensational 121 in the first innings.
Smith added 285 runs in a match-winning partnership with Player of the Match, Travis Head, to take Australia to a mammoth 469 in their first essay.
When asked about the team's plan for celebrations on winning the WTC 2023 title, Smith replied:
"It's a pretty quick turnaround so it's not ideal but we've achieved something really good together as a group over the last 2 years to now be Test Champions. It's a great achievement and I am sure we'll have a few drinks and celebrate but we are also conscious we've got a game on Thursday (Friday), the start of a big series ( the Ashes) for us as well. We are really proud of our achievement and we'll see how the night goes."
Australia became the first team in cricket history to win all four ICC titles - ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy, and the WTC title.
They will begin their bid to retain the Ashes at Edgbaston starting Friday.
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