Virat Kohli looked in sublime touch on Day 5 of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final between India and Australia at The Oval but the star India batter fell just one run short of a well-deserved half-century. It took a spectacular catch from Steve Smith at the slips to put an end to Kohli's innings as he fell for Scott Boland's ploy to dismiss him. Boland kept bowling a slightly off-stump line to him and Kohli finally ended up edging a wide delivery to Smith at third slip. The dismissal left all India fans shocked as it was a crucial wicket with respect to the game and his wife Anushka Sharma's reaction went viral on social media.
India's poor show at the ICC events continued as Australia won their maiden World Test Championship title with a crushing 209-run victory on the fifth day of the summit clash.
This was India's second defeat in successive WTC finals after losing to New Zealand in 2021 in the inaugural edition.
Chasing an improbable target of 444, India started the day at 164 for 3 but soon lost batting mainstay Virat Kohli (49), followed by Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (43) to be bowled out for 234 in 63.3 overs.
Scott Boland (3/46) was the best bowler on view as he removed Kohli and Jadeja in a single over to decisively end the contest and the rest was formality.
Nathan Lyon (4/41), however, had the best figures as he mopped up the tail in a jiffy.
(With PTI inputs)