Watch: KS Bharat took a brilliant catch diving down the leg side to dismiss David Warner close to Lunch on Day 1 of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final at The Kia Oval today (June 7).
After being put in to bat on a green-looking surface and losing opener Usman Khawaja for a duck, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the ship for Australia.
The second-wicket partnership had started to look ominous for India before Shardul Thakur weaved his magic and dismissed Warner just before Lunch.
India had started brilliantly with the new ball, with Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj making life difficult for the batters. However, Labuschagne and Warner stood firm and negotiated their spell without much damage, except for a couple of blows on the body.
Umesh Yadav and Thakur, the first and second-changed bowlers, were not able to keep the pressure on and leaked runs in the initial part of their spells. However, once they settled into a rhythm, they got much better, especially Thakur, who was able to generate two close lbw shouts that India ended up reviewing.
It was his killer blow in his final over before Lunch, that brought India back in the game. India had not tried a lot of short balls till then before Thakur bowled one to Warner from round the wicket.
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Warner went for the pull but was only able to glove it down towards the leg-slip region. Bharat, keeping in his first Test match in England, moved swiftly to his right and dived full length to take a low catch, inches from the ground and send the southpaw packing.
Australia ended the first session on 73-2, with Siraj and Thakur taking the two wickets to fall.
Watch KS Bharat take a superb, low, diving catch down the leg side to dismiss David Warner
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