Australia’s Steve Smith opined on the importance of his catch to dismiss Virat Kohli to set the stage for the Aussies on Day 5 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Oval. Australia eventually won the game by a massive 209-run margin to win their first WTC title. However, Smith felt the wicket of Virat, especially in a run- chase was crucial for Australia to emerge victorious.

“Big moment. We obviously know how good a player Virat is, particularly in chases so we knew it was an important wicket to get and fortunately it stuck in the hands and things sort of happened quickly from there,” he told ICC after the game. “I thought Scott Boland was outstanding this morning. It was a really good spell the way he set Virat up early on and beat the bat a couple of times and finally found the edge and then got Jadeja who has been a bit of a thorn in our back I suppose because he always competes really well. So those two wickets really set the morning up for us and it was sort of smooth sailing almost from there.”

However, Boland dismissed Kohli and Jadeja inside three deliveries to leave India struggling at 179-5. India were eventually blown away by the stunning Australian attack for 234 as well. Steve Smith also applauded Australia’s achievement. And, they will play in the Ashes now, starting Friday, June 16. Meanwhile, Smith added 285 runs in a match-winning partnership with Player of the Match, Travis Head and helped Australia put up a massive 469 in their first innings as well.

Steve Smith replied: “It’s a pretty quick turnaround so it’s not ideal but we’ve achieved something really good together as a group over the last 2 years to now be Test Champions. It’s a great achievement and I am sure we’ll have a few drinks and celebrate but we are also conscious we’ve got a game on Thursday (Friday), the start of a big series ( the Ashes) for us as well. We are really proud of our achievement and we’ll see how the night goes.”