Adelaide: Australia have further strengthened their position at the top of the ICC World Test Championship points table with a extraordinarily victory over India in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series. The Tim Paine-led side beat the Virat Kohli-led side by eight wickets on Saturday (December 19) to take the lead in the four-match series.
Mounting on impressive bowling performances from Australia’s pacers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, Australia bowled out India for just 36/9. Till now, it is India’s lowest total in Tests, lower than the 42 they had scored against England way back in 1974. Not a single batsman managed to touch the double-digit mark during the scary collapse.
Mayank Agarwal’s 9 was the highest score from the Indians in the second innings. For Australia, Hazlewood picked up five wickets for just eight runs while Cummins accounted for four wickets. In reply, Australia went on to win the game by eight wickets. Chasing a moderate 90, they crossed the finishing line in 21 overs. Joe Burns recouped his form and scored an unbeaten 51. He hit a six to not only finish the game but also complete his fifty.
With the latest win, Australia have geared up their position at the top of the points table which is now being intended by the percentage of points won rather than total points won. As a result, Australia are ahead of India despite having lesser number of points. They are at the top with 82.3% and 326 points. At the start of the series, Australia had 82.2% and 296 points.
On the other hand, India have lost further ground in the race for ICC World Test Championship final. Having started the series at 75%, they have now dropped to 70.5%. New Zealand, England and Pakistan complete the top five.
