India did well to bowl out Australia for 469 in the 2021-23 World Test Championship final at the Kia Oval after the latter had amassed 327-3 on the first day.

There was still some time left in the fifth session, and Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill went after Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins straight away as India raced to 22-0 after three overs.

Cummins gave Starc a break after two overs, replacing him with Scott Boland. At the other end, Cummins trapped Rohit (15) leg-before with a ball that jagged back in.

Boland, having started with a maiden over to Rohit, began the next over with three balls just outside the off-stump. The line forced Gill to play each of them but, to his credit, Gill defended each of them solidly.

Boland bowled the next ball outside off. Gill, presumably under the impression that it would leave him or go straight on, decided to shoulder arms. To his horror, he watched the ball jag back in, almost absurdly, to hit off-stump.

As per the CricViz database, Boland’s ball was the “most threatening” ball of the Test match so far as well as the 10th-most threatening by an Australian in England since 2006, when ball-tracking data became available.

The ball from Boland to dismiss Gill had a 33% chance of taking a wicket re our Expected Wickets at @CricViz. That’s the most threatening ball bowled in the game so far, and the 10th most threatening bowled by an Aussie in England since 2006, when tracking was first available. pic.twitter.com/2gUyoiyEP0

— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) June 8, 2023

In fact, the ball Boland bowled to dismiss Gill in the WTC final had approximately a one-in-three chance of getting a wicket as per the Expected Wickets variable.

At the time of writing, India were 61-3 with Virat Kohli (9) and Ajinkya Rahane (7) at the crease. They trail by another 408 runs.