A fine performance with the bat in both the innings saw Australia Post a mammoth 444 runs Target for India to chase in the 4th innings of the World Test Championship final. After a fairly good start to their run Chase, India lost their first wicket at the stroke of Tea as Shubhman Gill edged one to Cameron Green at Gully for 18. Skipper Rohit Sharma however stayed unfazed as he continued to play his natural free flowing strokes as the scoreboard kept ticking with the passage of time.
The right handed kept attacking the bowlers and sending them to all parts of the ground right from the early stages of the innings. Amongst a flurry of shots played by him early on, one particular shot which grabbed the attention of many was his sublime traditional pull shot which went for a six over fine leg for half a dozen runs.
It was in the second delivery of 7th over of the Indian innings that Mitchell Starc tried bowling a bit short ball to Rohit Sharma in an attempt to surprise the batsman. However Rohit who has been a master at playing the pull shot over the past decade picked up the length perfectly and had all the time in the world to play a sublime pull shot. The Indian skipper had no intentions of keeping his shot low as he smashed the ball over the fine leg into the crowd for a fine sixer.
A 74m six to Mitchell Starc took every spectator in the crowd by surprise. Rohit despite looking in good touch was eventually dismissed for 43 by Nathan Lyon as India were reduced to 92/2. The 51 run stand between Rohit and Pujara did provide India with a bit of stability, however a lot of work is yet to be done by the Indian batters if they are to chase down the total of 444 runs hereon.