India and Australia played out a balanced game on the fourth day of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship final at The Oval on Saturday, June 10. Australia declared their second innings at 270/8 and set a target of 444, but India responded strongly with 164 runs. At the end of the day play goes on. Ahead of the final day, India need 280 runs and Australia need seven wickets to win the WTC 2023 title.
Rohit Sharma And Shubman Gill Gave India a brisk start chasing the world record in the fourth innings. Australia’s first breakthrough came through the controversial dismissal of Gill off Scott Boland in the eighth over. Cameron Green made a brilliant effort to take a one-handed diving catch in the slips to dismiss the Indian opener who scored 18 off 19 balls.
However, the all-rounder got his fingers on the ball at the same time as the ball seemed to touch the ground. It was an impossible task for the on-field umpires, who sent it up to TV umpire Richard Kettleborough, who treated it as a catch. Gill and Rohit were in disbelief at the third umpire’s decision and when Gill walked off the pitch, the crowd at The Oval booed the decision.
After the end of Day 4’s play, Green gave his honest verdict on his catch to dismiss Gill. He said it was a clean effort from his side and he had no doubts about the ball touching the ground.
“At that point I definitely felt I had nailed it,” Green told the ICC after the fourth day’s play. “I think in the heat of the moment, I thought it was clean and threw it and obviously showed no doubt. And then it was left to the third umpire (Richard Kettleborough) and he agreed.”
Meanwhile, Gill took to Twitter to vent his anger at the umpires after the game. As expected, former Australian cricketers Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer supported Kettleborough’s decision, while Indian stars Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer criticized the third umpire for such a controversial decision in the WTC final.