Ravichandran Ashwin took a fifer, while Ravindra Jadeja continued his excellent form after taking a five-wicket haul earlier, as India defeated Australia by an inning and 132 runs in the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
As a result, Rohit Sharma and the team have boosted their chances of reaching the final of the World Test Championship 2021-23, which will begin on June 7 at the Oval.
After their convincing victory against Australia, hosts India remain in second position in the current WTC rankings, but they have moved one step closer to directly qualifying for the summit clash.
India was second in the World T20 standings before the Border Gavaskar Trophy began, with 58.93% points. While their position hasn't changed, Rohit's team has edged closer to a spot in the final as they increased the gap between themselves and third-placed Sri Lanka.
India rose to 61.67 PCT, while Sri Lanka remained at 53.33% PCT. The league leaders, Australia needed just a solitary win in the four-match Test series to confirm their berth in the WTC final, are still way ahead of the chasing pack, but their PCT went down from 75.56 per cent to 70.83 per cent after the defeat in Nagpur.
The Indian team still has to win at least two of the remaining three matches in the current series to advance to their second consecutive WTC final, having finished second to New Zealand the last time around.
Meanwhile, in the first Test, India dominated from the start, holding the opposing team to a paltry 177-run total in their first innings, with Jadeja creating havoc on his return to international cricket after a long injury absence.
In reply, India scored 400 runs, led by skipper Rohit Sharma's century, with Axar Patel (84 off 174) and Ravindra Jadeja (70 off 185) also contributing with the bat.
Australia was under pressure when they walked out to bat in the second innings, but they were bowled out in only one session thanks to Ashwin's five-wicket haul, which included two wickets apiece from Jadeja and Mohammed Shami.
With a 1-0 series advantage, both teams will focus on the second Test match, which will be held in Delhi from February 17–21.
