Usman Khawaja slams century as Australia grab initiative on Day 1 of Ahmedabad Test

There was discipline and there was method as he faced pace and spin with a measure of comfort.

Usman Khawaja slams century as Australia grab initiative on Day 1 of Ahmedabad Test

Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja showed how much application matters while batting. The Australian opener finally came good with his maiden century in his third visit to India as he remained unbeaten with 104 as the visitors scored 255 for 4 on Day 1 of the fourth Test in the BGT Series on Thursday.

This was a day of celebration at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Prime Ministers of Indian and Australia, Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese, had dominated proceedings early on as they went around the stadium in a golf cart. It was followed by a small function where they presented caps to skippers Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith. For many cricket fans inside, this was a nice sight. Mixing cricket and politics is nothing new, though this was more about friendship as the two nations share so much in common. Trade, commerce, sport, education, India and Australia have a great partnership going.

Queerly, for some of the Aussie journos, the visit of their own PM Albanese was a bit strange, going by social media reactions. It is not as if cricket stadia are preserves of the cricketers, administrators and spectators alone. Sometimes, it s good to mix it up with the presence of politicians as well. Maybe, the Aussie PM goes back with great memories as this stadium overshadows even the historic MCG in Melbourne in many ways.

There had been a lot of chatter on the pitch before the match. For India, there is a lot of pride at stake plus having to prove again they have not lost a grip on the match. From a position of 2-0 lead in the series to a reversal in Indore, a lot has changed. Perhaps, that is why this pitch in Ahmedabad was much better for the batters. There was no dust flying from the first over or nasty spin. It was a good pitch to bat on, with proper application.

Related: “Lot of talk around pitches,” Rahul Dravid speaks about Ahmedabad pitch and ICC’s ‘poor’ rating for Indore pitch

One man who made the difference on Day 1 was Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja
Usman Khawaja

After Mohd Shami had rocked the Aussies with two good wickets, the Aussies had played according to a plan. One man who made the difference on Day 1 was Khawaja, as the opener showed willingness to stay at the crease and play on merit. This is his third tour to India, yet his first century came after day-long toil where there were so many distractions. The left-hander has batted well in the sub continent, yet to slam his maiden ton against India is special.

To say that Khawaja anchored the Aussie innings would be stating the obvious. There was discipline and there was method as he faced pace and spin with a measure of comfort. In fading light and the last over of the day he got his century and then showed rare signs of emotions. On a track where batting was much easier than in the first three Tests, Khawaja and Cameron Green (batting 49) patched up a great partnership for the fifth wicket.

They have added 85 runs till now, with the flow of runs in the last hour quite fast. Perhaps, taking the second new ball was not really helpful. The bowlers were not effective and in no time, skipper Rohit Sharma fell back on the spinners. At this point, there is nothing really for the spinners. They are not looking dangerous nor were they really probing the batters. The ball will be hard and new on Friday morning, so, hopefully, India will hope to take a few quick wickets.

Given the changing dynamics in this series, the Aussies are in comfort zone, having already made the ICC World Test Championship final. India have to win this Test, easier said than done. If not, they will have to wait for the outcome of the series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Given India’s performance in the first two Tests and then getting battered in the third Test, they did not dare to produce a “helpful” track in Ahmedabad. There is a lot of cricket still left in this match. Which way the wind blows will be interesting to see from here on.

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