The little hopes that cricket fans in India and abroad had were dashed as Australia thrashed Team India by 209 runs to win the World Test Championship final at the Oval on Sunday. Having seven wickets in hand and 280 more runs required to win, the Indian batsmen seemed to have buckled under pressure.
Australia got the prize money of $1.6 million (Rs 13.2 crore), while runners-up India won $800,000 (Rs 6.5 crore) as prize money. South Africa, which finished third in the tournament, won $450,000 (Rs 3.72 cr) as the prize money.
It may be noted that all nine Test playing will receive the share of the $3.8 million purse this year. While England, which earned fourth position in the tournament won the prize money of $350,000 (Rs 2.89 cr), Sri Lanka, which was fifth in the tournament, won $200,000 (Rs 1.65 cr) from the total share. Similarly, other teams like New Zealand (sixth position), Pakistan (seventh position), West Indies (eighth position), and Bangladesh (ninth position) will get the prize money of $100,000 each.
Also read: World Test Championship final: Australia crush India by 209 runs to win title
New Zealand, which won the last edition of the World Test Championship (that went on from 2019 to 2021) last year, won the prize money of $1.6 million in Southampton. The Kane Williamson-led side had beaten India to win the championship.
Meanwhile, needing a mammoth target of 444 runs to win the Championship, India began day 5 on Sunday with 164/3, hoping to make a mark on the final day. But fate had other plans, with none of the batsmen being able to stay at the crease for a long time. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane contributed the most with the bat, with 49 runs and 43 runs respectively. In the end India was bowled out for 234 runs in 64th over.
For Australia, Nathan Lyon took four wickets for 41 runs and Scott Boland took 3 wickets for 46 runs. Boland removed Kohli and Jadeja in one over to push India back to the wall.