After electing to field first in the WTC Final, India would have been disappointed with their effort as they conceded 469 runs in the first innings. However, they started promisingly with the bat as openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill raced off to 23-0 in the first four overs.

Pat Cummins, the Australia captain, was proactive in ringing the changes as he brought on Scott Boland in just the fifth over of the innings. Known for his relentless accuracy, Boland struck gold in just his second over as he dismissed Gill with a beauty that seamed back in a long way from outside off-stump. Gill left it alone, only to hear the deadly sound of timber.

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As if one ‘left-alone-and-bowled’ dismissal was not enough, Pujara followed a similar route a few overs later on the other side of Tea.

Gren, like Boland, got one to nip back in from outside off in his second over. Pujara, like Gill, left it alone. And the ball, like the previous one, crashed into the batter’s stumps. “Oh another one, another one not offering a shot,” exclaimed Harsha Bhogle on commentary.

Just how similar the ball was to the Boland ball that got Gill can be understood from CricViz’s Expected Wickets model. According to it, the ball to Gill had a 33 per cent chance of taking a wicket, while the ball to Pujara had a 28 per cent of taking a wicket – the two most threatening balls that have been bowled in this WTC Final so far.

The balls to dismiss Gill & Pujara had a 33% & 28% chance of taking a wicket respectively according to our Expected Wickets model. They were the two most threatening balls bowled in the match so far and were almost identical.#WTCFinal2023 #AUSvsIND pic.twitter.com/degOBPjrEy

— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) June 8, 2023

With that wicket, India went from 30-0 to 50-3, with hopes of a comeback dwindling.

Watch Pujara leave and get bowled off a vicious in-seamer from Green in a similar fashion to Gill

 

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