"The road ahead is a miracle" - Aakash Chopra on India's situation after Day 2 of the WTC final

Aakash Chopra believes India need a miracle to stage a comeback in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

Australia posted a mammoth 469 runs after being asked to bat first at The Oval in London. Pat Cummins and Co. then reduced India to 151/5 by Stumps on Day 2 (Thursday, June 8) and seem all set to gain a massive first-innings lead.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that India will have to come up with some magical stuff to stop Australia from winning the WTC title:

"The road ahead is a miracle because you are still 318 runs behind. So you are way behind. The opposition team will not give a follow-on even if you save it. They will say that they will bat again and will ask you to bat in the fourth innings when you will have to score 550 runs."

Chopra observed that it would be virtually impossible to successfully chase a target close to 550 in the fourth innings. He reckons India's best hope is to reduce the first-innings deficit:

"550 runs are not going to be scored in the fourth innings, you can forget that. It can definitely happen that when the match begins today afternoon, KS Bharat scores runs somehow and Ajinkya Rahane scores runs alongside him, and Lord Thakur scores a century. You do something and bring the lead down to 100-150."

India trail Australia by 318 with five first-innings wickets in hand. With not much expected from Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj with the willow, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat and Shardul Thakur will have to play substantial knocks if Rohit Sharma and Co. want to minimize the deficit.

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"You bowl them out for 150" - Aakash Chopra on the miracle required with the ball

Aakash Chopra added that India would have to dismiss Australia cheaply in the second innings even if they reduce the first-innings lead significantly:

"Then when they come to bat, you bowl them out for 150. I mean all these things happen, the third day is like a miracle. If something like that happens, you bow down to the miracle."

The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that the scale has massively tilted towards Australia over the first two days of the Test match:

"The truth is that I went 51-49 in favor of Australia at the start of the first day, I went 60-40 in favor of Australia at the start of the second day and now I am going 70-30 in favor of Australia because now the match is being seen turning a lot in Australia's favor."

Chopra believes the decision at the toss and Ravichandran Ashwin's non-selection cannot be blamed for India's situation. He pointed out that the way they bowled on Day 1, rather than the selection of bowlers, has put them behind the eight ball.