ICC World Test Championship Final: "Absolutely Have To Be More Attacking Against Lyon" - AB de Villiers On India’s Chances To Win The Final

ICC World Test Championship Final: “Absolutely Have To Be More Attacking Against Lyon” – AB de Villiers On India’s Chances To Win The Final

by Sai VaitlaJune 11, 2023

Last Update on: June 11th, 2023 at 02:46 pm

Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers believes that India batters should attack Nathan Lyon’s bowling in order to win the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. AB de Villiers stated that India has a chance to beat Australia and win their first title in red-ball cricket.

The Rohit Sharma-led team needed 280 runs on Sunday to chase down a mammoth 444-run target in the fourth innings at the Oval in London. India ended with 164 runs for the loss of three wickets at the end of the penultimate day’s play, with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane at the crease.

AB de Villers took to Twitter to give suggestions to the Indian batter on how to approach the run chase to win the final clash.

“If India can find a way for Lyon to go at 5’s.. lose max 1 more wicket until the 2nd new ball.. u never know,” de Villiers tweeted.

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“The long and short, absolutely have to be more attacking against Lyon,” the former batter further added.

The long and short, absolutely have to be more attacking against Lyon
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) June 10, 2023

Virat Kohli And Ajinkya Rahane Showed Resistance

India started the run chase on a positive note by scoring quick runs at the start. Shubman Gill added a 41-run partnership with Rohit Sharma for the first partnership before being dismissed for 18 runs. Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara threw their wickets in back-to-back overs after settling at the crease.

Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane added a crucial unbeaten 71-run partnership for the fourth wicket to keep India’s hopes alive. Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 44 runs off 60 balls. Rahane showed resistance against Australian bowlers and scored 20 runs off 59 balls with an injured finger.

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Michell Starc and Pat Cummins were expensive with the ball in the Test match, leaking runs at an economy rate of 6.43 and 4.67, respectively. Boand, Lyon, and Cummins picked up one wicket each. Aussie bowlers had to work hard to get wickets with a softened Duke ball.

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