Reward or redemption? World Test Championship final looks entirely different for Australia and India

S oon it will arrive: not just the second Test of the English summer, but the second edition of the World Test Championship final. As Australia and India prepare to play off in London, the match’s place and placement remain strange. It is new enough that people are not sure of its significance, and the supposed pinnacle of a two-year contest takes place only days before the next edition begins with an Ashes series that for many is more anticipated.

For Australia’s team the final is two things. First, reward for a solid two years of qualifying that saw only three losses out of 19, headed by a hard-fought series win across 15 days in Pakistan, as well as a home Ashes thrashing, a shared result in Sri Lanka, and a visit to India that became more credible as it went on. Second, it is essentially a free hit, a first swing at a title that Australia has never contested and has no blueprint on how to approach.

Things are different for India, having lost the first WTC final in 2021 to a disciplined New Zealand. India’s irritation over that miss has persisted, and losing two in a row would inflate that to a higher level of grievance, given a team that has performed so strongly in the format for the last five years, and an administration whose financial dominance on the global scale is yet to translate in terms of silverware. Interest within India will no doubt be intense.

Australia’s approach is predictable: barring late disaster, the top seven is inked in as David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green and Alex Carey. Nathan Lyon is the spinner, Pat Cummins the fast-bowling captain, and Mitchell Starc’s speed could be key on an Oval pitch that tends to flatness, after the error in