The final of the first edition of the ICC World Test Championship concluded on this day (June 23) three years back in 2021. India and New Zealand were the first-ever finalists in the World Test Championship, the first marquee international tournament in Test Cricket’s then history of 144 years.
On this day (June 23), it was the fifth day of the game when the Blackcaps registered an easy win by 8 wickets to clinch the trophy and become the first-ever World Test Champions after defeating India. Earlier, the match was affected by the rain initially but later, it started after the weather settled down.
New Zealand bowlers outmuscle India’s mighty batting attack
Speaking of the action of the match, the New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and asked India to bat first. However, the Indian batters struggled against the Kiwi bowling attack in the first innings of the game. The then-skipper Virat Kohli and the veteran middle-order batter Ajinkya Rahane played the crucial knocks of 44 and 49 runs, respectively.
But still, India were bundled out just at the score of 217 runs in 92.1 overs in the first innings courtesy of star Kiwi all-rounder Kyle Jamieson’s sensational five-wicket haul; he scalped 5 wickets just at the cost of 31 runs.
In response to India’s 217, New Zealand scored 249 runs and gained a lead of 32 runs at the end of the first innings. Devon Conway played a half-century knock, scoring 54 runs, with 6 fours followed by skipper Kane Williamson’s 49 runs, with 6 fours. Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma scalped 4 and 3 wickets, respectively, alongside 1 and 2 wickets bagged by Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Later in the second innings, India couldn’t find momentum against the Blackcaps and they were bundled out just at the score of 170 runs courtesy of Rishabh Pant’s 41 runs, with 4 fours. With this, New Zealand was given a target of only 139 runs in the fourth innings, which they comfortably chased down just for the loss of 2 wickets and won the match by a big margin of 8 wickets.
Kyle Jamieson won the ‘Player of the Match award for his decisive bowling in the favour of Blackcaps.
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