In less than a week’s time, Team India and Australia will face off at the Oval for the ultimate prize in Test cricket: the Test mace at the World Test Championship (WTC) Final.
Australia finished at the top of the WTC 2023 points table with 11 wins in 19 Tests and India right behind them with 10 wins in 18 Test matches. While Australia had most of their regular players available most of the time, India had to deal with a number of injuries to some key players. Even in the WTC final, India will be without Bumrah, Pant, Iyer, and KL Rahul.
Nonetheless, the batters of both the teams have stood up handsomely and delivered even in challenging conditions.
Here are top 3 run-getters each from India and Australia in WTC 2023:
Australia:
Usman Khawaja
Usman Khwaja is the second-leading run-scorer in the WTC 2023 cycle with 1608 runs in 28 Test innings, only behind Joe Root, who tallied 1915 runs in 40 innings. Khawaja made a bumper return to the side in the home Ashes with twin centuries and didn’t look back. He has an average of a whopping 69 in this cycle having slammed 6 centuries and 7 fifties, including a century in Ahmedabad.
Marnus Labuschagne
Ranked the number 1 batsman in ICC Test rankings, Marnus Labuschagne has amassed 1509 runs in 33 innings in the WTC 2023 at an average of 53. The Australia number 3 has notched up 5 fifties and 5 centuries.
Steve Smith
Senior Aussie star Steve Smith has plundered 1252 runs in 30 knocks in this WTC cycle at an average of 50. The right-hander raised 3 hundreds and 6 fifties.
India:
Cheteshwar Pujara
Pujara is India’s leading run-scorer in the WTC cycle 2023, despite being dropped for the 2-Test series against Sri Lanka. The number 3 batter has amassed 887 runs in 30 innings at a moderate average of 32. In this cycle, Pujara has 1 century to his name along with 6 half-centuries.
Virat Kohli
Former India skipper Virat Kohli ended his Test century drought with the ton in Ahmedabad against Australia. He has 869 runs in 28 innings at a mediocre average of 32 with 1 hundred and 3 fifties.
Rishabh Pant
Pant, who is unavailable for the World Test Championship Final due to injuries suffered in his car accident, has a better record than Kohli in the WTC 2023: 868 runs in 21 innings at an average of 43 with 2 hundreds and 5 fifties under his belt.
