World Test Championship final: Australia pacers challenge India batsmen for red-ball title

India and Australia will have little time to waste when the World Test Championship final begins at The Oval in London on Wednesday.

While Test matches offer enough time for players to get into their groove, the WTC final is a peculiar challenge – a one-off match to decide the title winner of a championship that ran for two years.

Some have suggested a best-of-three final for such a long drawn out championship, but that is for the administrators to decide in the future. This week, it will come down to five days of intense battle between two closely matched teams at a neutral venue.

Rohit Sharma's India finished the current cycle as the top-ranked team, ahead of the Aussies. India made it to their second straight WTC final, having lost the inaugural title match to New Zealand in 2021, and will be desperate to get their hands on an ICC trophy – which will be a first for them in a decade.

The challenge will be particularly acute for Indian players, most of whom only recently landed in England for red-ball preparation after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League.

Getting used to Dukes balls is a challenge in itself. Doing that at fairly short notice ahead of a championship match against the world-class pace attack of Australia is a whole new ball game.

Captain Rohit Sharma admitted getting used to the conditions will be tricky, and advised his batsmen to show patience.

"England, in general, is pretty challenging conditions for the batters, but as long as you are prepared to have a good grind you can have some success as a batter," Sharma said.

"One thing I realised batting here was you are never in actually, because the weather keeps changing a lot. So you've got to keep concentrating for longer periods of time and that