WTC 2023 Final: David Warner's promising innings cut short by Shardul Thakur's golden-arm on the stroke of Lunch

There are three certainties in life - death, taxes, and Shardul Thakur delivering a crucial breakthrough for the Indian team at the international level. The Indian medium-pacer, who found his place in the eleven at the expense of Ravichandran Ashwin in the WTC Final, dismissed a well-set David Warner with an innocuous delivery to even out the session on the stroke of Lunch.

It was Rohit Sharma's men who gained the upper hand at the start of the morning session after Mohammed Siraj dismissed Usman Khawaja for a duck in his very second over of the match. The Indian new-ball bowlers, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami were bang on their money in their first spell, making run-scoring a difficult task for the Aussies.

However, veteran Aussie batter David Warner launched a counterattack on the Indian bowlers as he took a liking to Umesh Yadav, smashing the senior pacer for four boundaries in an over. Even though Marnus Labuschagne was a bit scratchy, Warner was looking in great touch from the other end.

Meanwhile, Shardul Thakur was getting a decent amount of assistance from the surface after his introduction in the attack and had two close LBW shouts against Labuschagne. But it was Warner who succumbed to a harmless delivery from the Indian medium-pacer, edging a leg-lined delivery in the penultimate over before Lunch. 

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The golden arm Shardul Thakur breaks the partnership for India. He gets David Warner and terrific catch by KS Bharat. #WTCFinal | #INDvsAUS | #ViratKohli

05:08 PM · Jun 07, 2023

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It was a crucial wicket in the context of the game as the southpaw was looking increasingly comfortable in the middle, stitching a solid partnership for the second wicket along with Labuschagne. The golden-arm of Shardul Thakur brought Australian batting ace Steve Smith to the middle with the Aussies heading into the break after losing two wickets in the first session of the WTC Final.