Usman Khawaja’s resilient century has put Australia into a position of dominance after the tourists enjoyed a rare day of impressive batting against India in the fourth Test.
Australia are on track to post their best total of the series after Khawaja starred with an unbeaten 104 to help the tourists to 255 for four at stumps on day one in Ahmedabad.
Khawaja batted through the entire day in sweltering conditions on a memorable opening to the Border-Gavaskar series finale as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi hosted Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in the stadium named after him.
The classy left-hander batted patiently, with his unbeaten innings coming from 251 balls. But allrounder Cameron Green (49 no) helped lift Australia’s run-rate with some outstanding, free-flowing batting in the last session.
The tourists went to tea at 149 for two, as Khawaja and acting captain Steve Smith (38) became the first pair from either team to bat through an entire session during this series. But Smith (38) and Peter Handscomb (17) departed in quick succession after tea, giving India some hope of running through Australia in front of a big home crowd.
Australia’s best total of the series is 263 in their first innings of the second Test in Delhi, with India smashing 400 en route to a big victory in the series opener in Nagpur. The first three Tests all finished in less than three days, but this appears to be a more traditional wicket after the pitch in Indore was hit with a “poor” rating from the ICC.
The final Test of the series started after a bizarre political rally before the match involving the prime ministers of both countries. The coin toss was delayed by four minutes to accommodate the extravagant meeting between Modi and Albanese.
Both leaders did a lap of honour in a hovercraft with bats and stumps on the back of it as they celebrated “75 years of friendship through cricket”.
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Khawaja and Travis Head (32) put on Australia’s best opening partnership of the series, 61, after Smith won the toss and batted first. But the aggressive Head, who was promoted to open when David Warner left the tour mid-series due to a broken elbow, went for one big shot too many and was caught at mid-on from the bowling of star India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (1-57).
Marnus Labuschange’s disappointing debut Test tour of India continued when the world’s No 1-ranked batter was bowled, chopping on to seamer Mohammed Shami for three. It was an impressive second spell from Shami (2-65), who bowled a stunning wide with the first ball of the match in scenes reminiscent of England quick Steve Harmison spraying the opening delivery of the 2006-07 Ashes.
India are desperate to bounce back from losing in Indore and to seal their spot in the World Test Championship final with a 3-1 series win. If the hosts do make the WTC decider, they will meet Australia at the Oval in London in June after the tourists secured their place last week.
