This Wednesday, the two best Test cricket teams in the world come face-to-face at the Oval in London. Fighting it out for the title of World Test Champions, we can expect nothing less than a fantastic five days of cricket as Australia takes on India in the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.
Admittedly, this ICC World Test Championship Final 2023 is a slightly odd fixture. The match is squeezed in between the IPL and the Ashes, played as a sudden-death match at a neutral venue, and without the Test team, everyone is talking about the past year – England. Despite these nuances, both teams will be eager to lift their first WTC trophy, with India having failed to do so when they made the final two years ago against New Zealand.
Will Australia’s bowling give them an edge in England? Or can India roll straight on from the IPL and bring some Bazball of their own to the Oval? We answer these questions and more in our Australia vs India Test WC 2023 Final betting preview.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | 2021-23 World Test Championship, Final (2nd Edition) |
| 🧾 Format: | Five-day Test match with one reserve day |
| 🏟️ Venue: | Kennington Oval, London, United Kingdom |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Wednesday, 7 June to Sunday, 11 June (Monday, 12 June reserve day) |
For those who want to dive straight in and do some online betting, here are the latest betting odds for ICC World Test Championship 2023 Final:
Looking at the online cricket bookies, we can see that Australia vs India cricket odds have the Aussies a slight favorite in this match-up. The Australia cricket national team is sitting at 1.91 (10/11) to win, ahead of the Men in Blue on 2.62 (13/8). While Australia may have an edge, these kinds of odds indicate that this match will be no walkover, and both teams have a genuine shot at winning here.
This is only the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship, with the first being played from 2019 to 2021. New Zealand won the inaugural WTC, defeating India in the final. However, the Kiwis have failed to back up their winning performance, with India and Australia being the clear best sides across the 2021-2023 cycle.
Here’s a look at how each team has fared heading into the 2023 ICC World Test Championship Final:
Australia finished at the top of the table in the 2021-2023 WTC cycle with 11 wins, three losses, and five draws. Their campaign began with a dominant Ashes performance, picking up four wins and a draw against England at home. This was then backed up with a 1-0 series win in Pakistan, a 1-1 series in Sri Lanka, a 2-0 series in the West Indies, and a 2-0 win against South Africa in Australia.
Most recently, they lost 2-1 to India away, having gone down 2-0 after the first two matches before closing out the series with a win and a draw.
Finishing second behind Australia, the India cricket national team opened the WTC season with a series against England. This was a thrilling 2-2 draw, with the final match being delayed by almost a year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
India also defeated New Zealand 1-0 at home, lost to South Africa 2-1 away, beat Sri Lanka 2-0 at home, and beat Bangladesh 2-0 away before their 2-1 win over Australia.
Time to dig into the Cricket World Cup odds and determine the best bets to make on the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final. Below are our predictions for AUS vs IND Test wc final 2023, based on the latest Australia vs India cricket odds:
This match will be tight. Typically when Australia and India meet, the favorite is determined by who’s playing at home. Is it a pitch that will hold plenty for Australia’s seamers or India’s spinner? In this match, however, the conditions favor neither side.
Instead, we say that the determining factor will be the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. ‘Boom-boom’ Bumrah is India’s premier fast bowler, and his absence – particularly in conditions that will demand seamers to carry the majority of the bowling duties – will be sorely felt. While Australia have bowling class such as Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, India’s strike lineup of Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj feels less intimidating.
Expect Australia to wear down India’s bowlers and pile on the runs at some stage in their first innings, batting India out of the game before taking plenty of wickets of their own.
There is one man who will no doubt be a bright spot for India. Shubman Gill has just arrived in England this week after playing a blinder of an IPL tournament. The opener obliterated 890 runs from 17 matches in the IPL, scoring an average of 59.33 at a rate of 157.80. With three centuries to his name, including one in the high-pressure Qualifier 2 Final, Gill is seeing the ball about as good as it gets.
The 23-year-old is yet to firmly imprint himself on the Indian Test team, and we say this will be the time he does it. Sure, it’s different conditions and a different format, but when you’re as high on confidence and form as Shubman Gill is, it won’t matter. Expect Gill to score big in the first innings – after all, his last Test score was 128 against this exact team.
Another man who loves to score runs is Marnus Labuschagne. With 10 centuries since his debut in 2018 and a batting average of 57.52, Labuschagne sits at No.1 in the ICC Test batting rankings right now. Just ask the West Indies what it’s like bowling to Labuschagne – they came to Australia late last year, and saw the batsman plunder 204, 104 not out and 163 in consecutive innings.
Labuschagne also has an excellent record in England. He’s played four Tests here for 353 runs at an average of 50.42. Combine this with his record against India, which is 708 runs at an average of 47.20, and the forecast is quite simple: Labuschagne will be scoring runs this week, and plenty of them.
The last two years of Test match cricket all come down to this. Australia vs India are battling it out for five days to determine who gets to call themselves World Test Champions for the next two years. Australia has the slight edge, despite neutral conditions, and should have the bowling grunt to see their side across the line here. However, expect big performances from Shubman Gill, who we recommend backing for India’s top scorer instead of betting on popular names like Viral Kohli or Rohit Sharma.
