How Scott Boland took out Kohli & Jadeja and won Australia the WTC in one over

Clutch.
How good were these two on day five! #WTC23 pic.twitter.com/TZyQwfHvu7
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 11, 2023
The same brutal simplicity marks his bowling. No dream balls, no magic-weaving, just plain old seam bowling. The ball he nailed Kohli was routine seamer stuff. There were no devilish late bends. It was a full, wide ball, angled away and seaming a touch away. Judging the length, Kohli threw his hands at it, more than driving. His front-foot was semi-forward and the hands iron-hard. The ball flew off the edge to the outstretched hands of Steve Smith at second slip. The only thing spectacular about the dismissal was the catch, Smith lunging to the right to grab a dying ball.

The deception of Boland lies not with the wicket ball, but in those ones that lead up to the wicket. He is the master of slow death, teasing and probing the batsmen to the end, nudging and poking the batsmen off the cliff then shoving them. The planning had begun much earlier.
Australia’s Scott Boland appeals for lbw on India’s Ajinkya Rahane, but is was not given on the fifth day of the ICC World Test Championship Final between India and Australia at The Oval cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
The ball that dusted doubts in the mind of Kohli came two overs ago, in the 43rd over of the game, when the Indian batter inside-edged a nip-backer onto his pads. It’s his stock ball, and until four years ago, the only ball he used to bowl. Kohli now made a conscious effort to get the front pad out of the line of the off-stump so that he nullifies the leg-before-the-wicket threat. In the next over, Boland would reproduce the same tactic, bowl a few in the channel, either holding the line or shaping away a fraction before unleashing the in-ducker. Kohli would defend.

On replays you would realise that he was double-bluffing Kohli. He was making his conscious of the lbw, but at the same time widening the line outside the off-stump and getting fuller. Kohli is aware of the threats of the ball zipping through the corridor. He is less fearful of those wide off the sixth stump channel, he could leave those alone, or crunch it through extra cover. For a while Kohli remained un-tempted, but the pressure of dot balls was mounting. He has hoarded just five runs from 15 balls. His mind might have been craving for that innings-kickstarting four.
IND vs AUS WTC Final 2023 Live Cricket Score: Australia’s Scott Boland centre celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of India’s Shubman Gill. (AP)
Boland sensed the jumpiness and flung a full delivery, the first ball of the 47th over. Kohli forward-pressed and got beaten the away seam-movement that he managed to get with a split-finger ball. The next ball was a trifle wider, the sort that Kohli leaves, and which he left. The third was even wider and the fullest of the lot. Kohli lashed a drive, but ended up edging, Boland steamed towards Smith as enthusiastically as a freight train that had seen the board of its destination. It was a triumph of diligence and devotion to craft.
He has rolled in and bowled the same ball a thousand times: decent speed, no length or line to hit, seam-upright but not ripping or jagging. But ask the batsmen, they would say he is so relentless that he would suffocate you. He is a difficult bowler to score off, seldom bowls driving length, seldom provides width to cut, barely bowls short balls. You could only grind and graft him into submission. Little surprise that he was the most economical bowler of the match. Steve Smith had dwelled on his virtues on the second day: “The skills he (Boland) possesses are magnificent. I think the angles he provides, and his ability to hit the stumps from slightly shorter (length) than some of our other bowlers is a big plus.”

To Ravindra Jadeja, he came round the stumps. He was expecting the ball to shape back in, but it just held the line after pitching just outside the off-stump. Jadeja was in two minds and nibbled weakly at the ball. It was the line that induced indecision—he was unsure whether it would move away or back. He almost pouched a third wicket. But the ball that took off from the shoulder of Bharat’s blade soared over the first slip’s grasp. Never mind, it would still be remembered as one of the greatest overs in WTC finals, and one that blew India’s last lingering hopes.
The over embodied Boland in a nutshell—intense and industrious, relentless and ruthless, a bowler with heart and fire (and a barrel chest). Later, his captain and comrade Pat Cummins would praise him: “Scotty Boland is now my favourite player. He always has been, but he just continues to be my favourite.” He would remember the day Boland blew like a storm at the Oval. And the over No 47 of the day.