OPEN THE GATES!!! We are just one day away from the start of the World Test Championship 2023 Final.

We are here! Chapter Six of our Road to the WTC Final 2023. The cast? The Indian cricket team - led by ‘Hitman’ Rohit Sharma and Australia - captained by Pat Cummins. The plot? India faces Australia in the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy. The ending? India clinch the series 2-1 and qualify for the WTC 2023 final.

How did the event unfold? Who were the top performers? All summed up here.

The 1st Test | Nagpur - India win

Proper demolition. Really? Well, we won’t deny it. The Ashwin-Jadeja combo floored the Aussie batting in the first innings on a spinning pitch, restricting the visitors to 177.

India would then go on to score 400 in their first innings, with our very own Ro-Hit leading the way with a 120, ably supported by Axar Patel (84) and Ravindra Jadeja (70). The only positive for Australia was in the form of Todd Murphy (7/124), who became the youngest Aussie to take a Test fifer on debut. Australia’s second innings, in a nutshell, was a horror show. None of their batters crossed 30 runs at the crease as Ashwin’s 31st five-wicket haul in Tests bundled them out for a paltry 91. Quite the perfect start!

The 2nd Test | Delhi - India win

Mission accomplished: Border-Gavaskar Trophy retained. A thrilling six-wicket win sealed it. After their disastrous batting in the first Test, the Aussies found some footing, and rode on half-tons from Usman Khawaja (81) and Peter Handscomb (72) to post 263. And then Nathan Lyon (5/67) proved to be a nuisance for us, but thanks to Axar Patel (74) and some tail-wagging, we managed to score 262.

But ‘Sir’ Jadeja refused to let Australia entertain any sort of comeback in the second innings. In fact, he just took the attack up a notch. 7/42, Australia bowled out for 113, and 2-0 achieved in just 26.4 overs.

The 3rd Test | Indore - Australia win

A rare hiccup! A rare batting failure. A rare loss at home. India batted first and were bowled out for 109. The left-arm spin of Matthew Kuhnemann was the troublemaker with his 5/16, and Lyon (3/35) played his accomplice.

Despite bowling Australia out for 197, another collapse in the second innings, with Lyon now steamrolling our batting 8/64 killed all hopes of a comeback. Only Cheteshwar Pujara (59) offered some resistance with the bat. With victory in sight, Australia chased the target of 76 in 18.5 overs as Travis Head remained unbeaten on 49.

The 4th Test | Ahmedabad - DRAW

A finale like none other. Virat’s 50th home Test, Virat ends his century drought, Australia’s stubborn attitude, New Zealand gifting India a WTC final ticket. It was a treat.

Usman Khawaja’s 180 and a debut hundred from MI star Cameron Green (114) powered Australia to a first-innings total of 480. They withstood the onslaught brought by an in-form Ravi Ashwin (6/91). India responded two-fold, with Virat Kohli (186) hitting his 28th Test century and his first since 2019. Shubman Gill played Robin to Kohli’s Batman with his 128 as the hosts surged to 571 in the first innings.

But nope, there were no further surprises. The Aussies blocked out the final day, and the pitch just didn’t deteriorate enough to force a result. 2-1 it was. A ticket to The Oval was booked. The date was set. The Finale beckoned.