WTC Final 2023India and Australia lock horns in battle for ages with Test supremacy at stake

By Rajarshi GuptaIndia have another chance to break a 10-year-old jinx. They have not won an ICC event since 2013 and after lifting the Champions Trophy in England all those years ago, they made it to major global finals thrice. They failed in 2014 and then in 2017 and then in 2021. On every occasion, India strangely looked so much out of depth despite stellar runs before those finales.

Later on Wednesday, India will get yet another opportunity. The World Test Championship final between India and Australia is one of the most important cricket matches in recent history, yet it has weirdly not received the same hype as an IPL final. That is perhaps a reflection of these times of shorter formats domination or maybe it has something do with the fact that the WTC is a two-year cycle. No other sporting event in the world lasts that long!

So arduous is the path to the title clash that you would be hard-pressed to remember how good India were in England in 2021 after a listless display in the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship against New Zealand. India had a 2-1 lead over England before Covid-19 fears meant the decider of an enthralling series had to be suspended. The final Test was rescheduled last year and India, under a new captain and coach, lost it.

Between the fourth and the fifth Tests against England, India also lost their momentum overseas elsewhere. At the end of 2021, India took a 1-0 lead against South Africa but ended the campaign with a 1-2 defeat and the shock announcement of Virat Kohli stepping down as Test captain.

Meanwhile, Australia took giant leaps under a new captain. Tim Paine was forced to resign after an old scandal resurfaced and Pat Cummins was the perfect fit. The Ashes were won at home and a historic Test series victory followed in Pakistan not long after. In their own den, the Aussies were invincible; the dream run came to an end in India (where else) as the Aussies lost the fourth successive Border-Gavaskar Trophy after winning it 2-1 at home in 2014-15.

After much drama, India and Australia find themselves in the crossroads of bragging rights for Test supremacy. These two teams have had a storied rivalry over the last two decades but some former Australian cricketers feel the men in the Baggy Greens have softened up a little. An Aussie batter appreciating a good ball from a world-class spinner became unacceptable to a hard-nosed former captain. By all accounts, the intense rivalry between two of the most powerful cricket countries in the world, has given way to warm, fuzzy gestures of friendship on the field.

It is also a recent development. Go back to 2014 and you would recollect how hostile the Australians were to Virat Kohli. In 2016, Kohli was super annoyed with Steve Smith for seeking dressing-room help with the DRS. There were heated arguments between Tim Paine and Virat Kohli in 2018 and former Australian cricketers were only too happy to write India off in 2020-21 before Ajinkya Rahane led an understrength team to its second successive series win down under.

Earlier this year as Australia came to visit India under Pat Cummins, you could see a different side to the two sides. Gone was Australia’s relentless need to sledge and gone was that extra aggression from India. Instead, there were two nicely behaved teams who played out a hard-fought series without the usual sparks and tensions that have come to be associated with these contests.

Yet, when India and Australia faceoff in the final at the Oval, a lot of old memories are bound to come rushing back. Virat Kohli vs the Aussie paces, Steve Smith vs the India pacers, Ashwin vs Lyon. So many of these contests have given life and purpose to some of the most iconic Test matches of our times.

This is perhaps the new way. Measured words, smiles, warmth and a tendency to stay away from any kind of boorish behaviour. This is perhaps how cricket will mostly be played from now on (never mind that Kohli-Gambhir spat). This perhaps how Test cricket will be played from now on. If the two fiercest teams walk to each other with endearing smiles, you get the picture.

With so much at stake, don’t expect the temperatures to soar.

India have as much to play for as Australia who have mended their ways after the ball-tampering scandal of 2018. There was a zeal to adopt a new way under Tim Paine and many feel it has gone too far under Pat Cummins. But make no mistake, they are still a winning machine.

As is India who showed they always found ways to win Test matches from the toughest situations. The three Tests that should haunt them in the lead-up to the WTC final were all played overseas. Two Tests in South Africa and the one against England in Birmingham. India’s pacer failed to deliver when it mattered most after years and years of hard work not just on docile pitches at home but in Australia and England and South Africa.

This final will be an opportunity to bury those ghosts. This final will also be opportunity to write a new chapter in the history of India vs Australia in Test cricket.