Finance
Usman Khawaja’s scintillating unbeaten century helped Australia finish day one of the fourth Test against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday with a commanding 255/4.
After Australia elected to bat first on a good batting pitch, Khawaja kept his cool, played late, and with soft hands to hit 15 fours in his 251-ball stay for 104 not out at the crease, giving Australia its first century of the tour.
He had useful partnerships of 61, 79, and 85 with Travis Head, Steve Smith, and Cameron Green, who was unbeaten on 49 off 64 balls at stumps and helped Australia gain a slight advantage in the match due to his feasting on the second new ball.
The pitch in Ahmedabad was in stark contrast to the surfaces in the first three Tests, providing little assistance to India’s bowlers despite their four wickets. They had to resort to control and even a short-ball barrage to keep Australia at bay, which they were unable to do thanks to Khawaja’s crucial century and Green’s late onslaught against the second new ball.
The day started with a returning Mohammed Shami being careless and giving up eight byes as the pitch showed signs of up and down bounce. India almost made a breakthrough when Umesh Yadav drew an outside edge from Travis Head, but wicketkeeper KS Bharat dropped a sitter, compounding his nightmare start with gloves.
From the 11th over, Head began to attack, driving off Umesh straight down the ground before smashing a wide delivery through backward point for a brace of fours. He continued to feast on Umesh’s poor deliveries, hitting three boundaries with ridiculous ease.
Khawaja continued the boundary flow by clipping Ashwin down leg before going on backfoot to pull Ravindra through square leg. After the drinks break, India finally broke through when Head miscued a loft to mid-on off Ashwin.
Despite Khawaja putting loose deliveries from Ashwin through the on-side, India got another wicket when Marnus Labuschagne chopped one on to his stumps off Shami, leaving for a single digit score. The bowlers then kept things tight for India, as in the last ten overs they gave away only eight runs till the morning session came to a close.
Anything fuller or on pads drew a neat glance from Khawaja. There were no planned strokes or sweeps available. He rarely attacked outside the off stump, but made full use of anything coming overpitched in the afternoon session, which also happened to be the series’ first wicketless session.
Like Jadeja, Khawaja bowled down leg and was quick to paddle through fine leg for a four. When the left-arm spinner pitched it short, Khawaja swung back and pulled for four more runs. Smith, on the other hand, played very cautiously and late to establish his boundaries with slash, clip, and pull shots.
A sufferer Khawaja reached fifty when he smacked Shami past second slip for four runs. He and Smith frustrated India, who even got Shreyas Iyer to bowl some part-time leg spin and wait for a breakthrough for a long time. India’s perseverance paid off in the final session, when Smith attempted to push defensively off Jadeja without using his footwork. He did, however, get an inside edge onto the pad and was strong enough to dislodge the stumps.
With delightful back-to-back boundaries off Umesh’s short balls, Peter Handscomb attempted to be the enforcer. However, Handscomb’s promising stay at the crease was cut short when Shami beat his outside edge and sent the off stump cartwheeling.
Khawaja and Green hit five boundaries off fuller deliveries from Ashwin and Jadeja before India took the new ball in the 81st over. Green was at ease cutting and driving off Umesh in the first over with a new ball.
Khawaja tucked Shami’s delivery off the pads through square leg, while Green pulled and drove through mid-off to take two boundaries in the 85th over. Khawaja scored his 14th Test century by clipping Shami through square leg, and he celebrated with a wide smile and leap of joy at the stroke of stumps.
Brief Scores: Australia 255/4 in 90 overs (Usman Khawaja 104 not out, Cameron Green 49 not out; Mohammed Shami 2/65, Ravindra Jadeja 1/49) against India
Source:OCN
