Day 3 of the World Test Championship Final between India and Australia at The Kia Oval has witnessed some inconsistent bounce, with Shardul Thakur getting hit on the body multiple times in an over.
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India got off to the worst possible start on Day 3 of the WTC Final, losing wicketkeeper KS Bharat with just the second ball of the day as Scott Boland rattled his stumps with another in-seamer.
Thakur came in at No.8 and could have been dismissed in the same over as he edged one towards the slip cordon where he was dropped. Since then, he had a torrid time at the crease as he faced Pat Cummins & Co.
He was hit on his hand multiple times in the 42nd over of the innings as Cummins extracted extra bounce from a good length. The second ball of the over hit him on his forearm, requiring medical attention. The third ball hit him on the gloves, resulting in another temporary stoppage in play.
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As if two consecutive blows weren’t enough, a third one came on the very next ball in almost exactly the same fashion as Thakur looked to fend away at a back-of-length delivery, only to be hit on his hand once again.
The inconsistent bounce on display was quantified by CricViz with the help of their PitchViz model. According to it, Day 3 has seen the most inconsistent bounce of all days in the WTC Final so far, with the ‘bounce inconsistency’ for Day 3 measuring a whopping 9.3 out of 10.
As per @CricViz‘s PitchViz model, the bounce inconsistency was at 6.4/10 on Day 1 and it went up to 7/10 (higher -> more inconsistent) on Day 2.
Early measures of bounce inconsistency on Day 3 is at 9.3/10, so far.#WTCFinal2023 #AUSvsIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) June 9, 2023
Fortunately for Thakur and for India, despite copping several blows he has been able to carry on and stitch a much-needed partnership with Ajinkya Rahane. India would like to get as close as possible to the Australian first-innings total. A big deficit might turn out to be difficult to come back from, given how the pitch has started playing tricks.
