WTC Final: Rohit & Co on back foot as they lose three wickets chasing 444-run target

Rohit Sharma walks off after being dismissed for 43 on Saturday. Pic/AFP

Australia set India a record 444-run target on a tricky pitch after Alex Carey propped up their second innings total to 270 for eight before declaring midway into the afternoon session.

India kept things tight in the morning, but Carey (66 not off 105) and Mitchell Starc (51 off 47) showed aggressive intent to share a 93-run stand off 120 balls for the seventh wicket.

They collected 69 valuable runs off 87 balls before Pat Cummins declared the innings after his own dismissal.

The time of the declaration was questionable considering the 263 is the highest fourth innings chase at The Oval and 418 in overall Test history.

Skipper Rohit Sharma (43) and Shubman Gill (18) looked comfortable against Cummins and Scott Boland.

However, at the stroke of tea, Boland got one to bounce little extra from the length and it flew from ball the shoulder of Gill's bat only to be lapped up by a diving Cameron Green at gully. It was the second time in the game that Green took a screamer though replay suggested it was a close call with the ball very close to the ground. At the time of going to press, India were 150-3 in the post-tea session, needing another 294 for victory. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were batting on 39 and 18 respectively.

Rohit began with a pull shot off Cummins before hitting him past the mid-on fielder in the following over. A crowd full of Indians really got going when Rohit pulled Mitchell Starc's second ball of the opening for a six over fine leg.

In the first session, India picked up a couple of wickets, but Australia chugged away to take extend their overall lead to 374 runs after reaching 201 for 6 at lunch on day four of the World Test Championship final here.

Australia had to battle hard to get 78 runs in 26 overs from the morning session. On the hottest morning of the game, the pitch continued to play plenty of tricks with both seamers and spinners being in business.

Australia, who resumed the day at 123 for four, lost Marnus Labuschagne (41 off 126) in the third over of the day.

Mohammed Siraj, who has troubled the Aussie batters the most in the game, got one to kick off from the spot and hit Green's right shoulder. Ravindra Jadeja (3-45 in 18 overs) was brought into the attack after eight overs and his tactics were pretty clear: get the ball to turn sharply from outside the leg stump. The ploy worked as Green, offered a big stride in order to play a forward defensive stroke but the ball bounced a tad more and hit the glove before bouncing on to hit the stumps.

Also Read: WTC final: Pitch was under prepared going into day one, claims Shardul Thakur

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