India came into day 3 with a hope of scripting a miracle which could see them reach close to the first innings total of Australia but they lost wicket keeper batsman Srikar Bharat on the 2nd ball of the day to send chills in the dressing room. India was in a spot of bother and the spell of Patt Cummins and Scott Boland was wrecking havoc on the Indian batsman and the “hard” Dukes ball was doing its part on the other hand. Shardul Thakur survived the spell by putting his body on the line for his country and “dependable” Ajinkya Rahane looked rock solid at the other end.
Thakur edged the ball twice but he was lucky enough to get dropped as luck matters in challenging conditions and it was with him this day. Just before the lunch, skipper Patt Cummins again got Thakur LBW but it happened to be a no ball and the Mumbai all rounder again survived a scare. Ajinkya Rahane was solid but he was again dropped when wicket keeper Alex Carry didn’t cling on to an edge and left it to David Warner which became tough for him as the ball was flying over him with speed.
Australia had their chances but a resurgent India courtesy Thakur and Rahane added 108 runs for the 7th wicket to bring back India on track. Their partnership ensured that the follow on is not imposed on India and a scare of losing the world test championship finals by an innings doesn’t bother them. India are still 209 runs behind Australia’s first innings total of 469 runs but twitter applauded the grit shown by Rahane and Thakur to rescue India. Here are the few reactions-
Ajinkya Rahane and Lord Shardul Thakur carrying Indian Cricket Team in WTC Final 2023 be like ๐#WTCFinal #INDvsAUS #WTC2023 #WTCFinal2023 #WTC2023Final pic.twitter.com/j804F5kK1t
โ Ashutosh Srivastava ๐ฎ๐ณ (@sri_ashutosh08) June 9, 2023
Ajinkya Rahane and Lord Shardul at the end of the day. ๐ฅ pic.twitter.com/VY5ef26s4H
โ Dennis๐ธ (@DenissForReal) June 9, 2023
Lord Shardul hitting boundaries Rahane from non strikers end –#WTCFinals #AUSvsIND pic.twitter.com/NrskMw8LoL
โ Dรบck/xD (@_QuAcK_xD_) June 9, 2023
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0 BakchodiAlways stands up when needed
My fav rahane dil jeet liya ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ#AjinkyaRahane#INDvAUS #AUSvsIND pic.twitter.com/pU2c7ECLUG
โ Damon (Back up id ) (@_RCBTweets04) June 9, 2023
1. Ajinkya Rahane in 2022
2. Ajinkya Rahane in 2023 pic.twitter.com/WT0tRFX3Jpโ Sagar (@sagarcasm) June 9, 2023
What do we say about this performance from Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur? I am short of words ๐๐ปโโ๏ธ๐ซก What a session this has been for India. ๐๐ค #WTCFinal pic.twitter.com/Lda0EwZvp9
โ Ridhima Pathak (@PathakRidhima) June 9, 2023
Lot of people questioned the place of Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur when they were selected.
They are standing tall at the Oval the now for our nation. โค๏ธโค๏ธ pic.twitter.com/U4OIY6Hn5y
โ ANSHUMAN๐ฉ (@AvengerReturns) June 9, 2023
Thank you Ajinkya Rahane
Thank you Lord Shardul Thakur
The first session belonged to us. pic.twitter.com/YtWYAOdRDgโ R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) June 9, 2023