India retain Border-Gavaskar Trophy after dull draw

As India and Australia broke for lunch after the tourists had done well to keep the hosts at bay to all but ensure a draw, the focus shifted to a piece of action thousands of miles away in another continent. New Zealand made a brave bid to chase down 252 in 57 overs against Sri Lanka after the rain had washed away a significant chunk of play in Christchurch.

With Australia set to deny India the win in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series here at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, and a qualification for the World Test Championship final in limbo, they needed at least one of New Zealand-Sri Lanka contests to go their way.

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A sweep of the two-Test series would have denied India the place in the WTC final and until the last three balls of the final over, Lankans did exceedingly well to keep themselves in with a chance to win that would have kept India waiting for the result of the second match to know their fate. While New Zealand risked defeat in an effort to win, Lanka gave it their all for anything less than a win would have ensured India's passage to the final.

With the result of the Christchurch match having a direct bearing on India's hopes, the final day's play of the fourth Test here took a backseat. Skipper Kane Williamson, whose team had denied India the maiden WTC title with a win in the June 2021 final in Southampton, did a huge favour to Rohit Sharma's team with a match-winning unbeaten 121.

Minutes before the lunch break would end, India had qualified to play Australia in the final which will take place at the Oval from June 7-11 with a reserve day in case there is no result during the regulation period.

On Monday's final day, India did manage to get rid of overnight batsman Matt Kuhnemann, but Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne stayed firm even though the pitch was doing more than it did the previous four days. But the slowness of the surface allowed the batsmen to negotiate the turn rather comfortably. In fact, Kuhnemann could have survived the LBW verdict against him off R Ashwin had the southpaw reviewed the onfield decision as the ball would have missed the leg stump.

The wicket, however, didn't open the floodgates as India would have hoped. Head and Labuschagne put their heads down and went about saving the Test with an occasional act of aggression. With the result in any one team's favour out of the question once Australia reached 158/2 in 68 overs at tea, both the teams shook hands after 50 minutes of play into the final session when Australia declared their innings closed at 175/2.

With that India won the BGT series 2-1 for the fourth time in a row since the 2016-17 series in India under Virat Kohli.