IND vs AUS: On Day 1 of the Ahmedabad Test, Usman Khawaja looked as comfortable as rarely a visiting batsman has in the past 10 years in Test cricket in India.
In the 4th IND vs AUS Test, the left-handed opener Usman Khawaja recorded his first Test century against India, and this is only the sixth century by any visiting batsman against India in India in the last five years.
He was involved in some hard-grinding partnerships which frustrated India: 61 (94) with Travis Head; 79 (248) with Steve Smith; 85* (116) with Cameron Green to close out the day.
Remaining unbeaten on 104*, scored off 251 deliveries with the help of 15 fours, Usman Khawaja became only the second opposition batsman to bat out an entire day in India since 2013, with Dinesh Chandimal in the 2017 Delhi Test being the other batter to do so.
The day ended at 255/4 with Khawaja on 104* (251) and Cameron Green on 49*(64). While Australia will sleep with much ease, they know India are just a couple of wickets away from getting into their tail.
For India bowled with great discipline for most of the day, as suggested by Australia’s run-rate of 2.83.
The Narendra Modi Stadium dished out the best batting surface of this series. And India, after losing the toss, knew straightaway that they will have to work harder here for their wickets than in the previous 3 Tests.
Indian bowlers bowled with good control and the Aussie batters defended well with patience. It was only until very late in the day when Green played his strokes that it felt India were loosening their grip.
India got two wickets in the first session in the second hour – Travis Head chipping to Jadeja at mid-on off Ashwin before Mohammed Shami got Marnus Labuschagne to chop on his stumps.
Khawaja and Smith, though, batted brilliantly in the second session, which became the first wicketless session of this series.
In the 3rd session, then, it was Jadeja who once again bowled Steve Smith, the batted losing his concentration a bit and inside edging a delivery before a jaffa from Shami sent Peter Handscomb’s off-stump for a ride.
Khawaja and Green shut shop and defended well but when India took the new ball, the boundaries came flowing in: Australia scored 54 runs in the 9 overs with the second new ball to seize control of the last hour and the day.
IND vs AUS: Here is the full highlights of Day 1 in the Ahmedabad Test:
Usman Khawaja said: “A lot of emotion in that. Has been a long journey, getting a hundred, as an Australian you always want to do that. It’s very special. Head took the new ball down. He was smacking them. Was pretty good to watch that from the other end.
“It was such a nice wicket, I didn’t want to give my wicket away. It was a mental battle more than anything else. You need to keep doing it for a long time. I had the helmet in my right hand, I told him (Green) just me a hug, instead of a high five (following his century). I have no superstitions, I stretched a bit in the morning and I was ready to go.”
