Ahmedabad: Usman Khawaja combined patience with grit to raise his 14th Test hundred that guided Australia to a comfortable 255 for four as a keen contest between bat and ball marked the opening day of the fourth and final match, here on Thursday. After dominating the batters in the first three matches of the series, the Indian spinners struggled to trouble the Australians with the Motera track, as anticipated, turning out to be a better wicket.
Khawaja, Australia's best batter on the tour, was determination personified throughout his six-hour stay as he struck 15 boundaries in his unbeaten 104-run knock. At stumps the Pakistan-born Khwaja had Cameron Green (49) for company. As a southpaw, neither does Khawaja have the panache of someone like a David Warner nor the brute power of a Matthew Hayden, who was capable of executing slog sweeps fetching deliveries from wide outside the off-stump.
His game maybe pretty low on aesthetics but is highly impactful as he came across as a batter, who wouldn't try anything which is outside his comfort zone. Anything pitched on his legs was punished through the leg-side while the occasional cover drive would come out of the closet, like one off Jadeja in the final session.
Otherwise, it was just playing the ball late and rocking on the back-foot, while whipping Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja through the square-leg or mid-wicket region. It was only fitting that an on-drive off Mohammed Shami (2/65), brought up what would be one of his most cherished Test hundreds that he celebrated with his now-customary leap in the air.
For someone, who faced racism during his early years, with typical Asian stereotype jibes like "Curry Muncher", life did make Khawaja mentally tough and he has shone through time and again during his second coming -- be it Sydney, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Delhi or now in Ahmedabad.
It did help that there was no devil on the Motera track and with no significant help on offer, India's spin troika of Ashwin (1/57), Jadeja (1/49) and Axar Patel weren't as effective compared to first three games. Save Shami's lethal reverse swing to get Peter Handscombe castled, none of the other dismissals came off wicket-taking deliveries and could be attributed to lapse of concentration on part of batters.
It was a track where if one even got deceived in the air, the slowness off the surface ensured that playing on backfoot became second line of defence. Run scoring wasn't easy but surviving and slowly building an innings wasn't difficult either as Khawaja showed.
Twice Australia lost back-to-back wickets but prior to that and after that, Khawaja remained a constant factor. He had partnerships of 61 for the opening stand with Travis Head (32), 79 for the third wicket Steve Smith (38) and another 103 for the fifth wicket with Green, who counter-punched towards the end of the day.
The run-rate of 2.83 would show that scoring wasn't very easy, save the first hour when Head hit Umesh Yadav for a flurry of boundaries. There is nothing in the track and Australia, if they apply themselves well, could post their best total of the series.
Head, in fact, must be feeling horrible as he undid all his good work in the first hour by playing an indiscreet shot. He tried to chip Ashwin over mid-on without reaching to the pitch of the delivery. Ashwin had just altered the length slightly and deceived Head, who offered the easiest of catches to one of the world's best fielders, Jadeja.
Head got a reprieve while batting on seven when wicketkeeper KS Bharath dropped a regulation catch off Umesh Yadav's bowling. Yadav, who usually invites criticism for his inconsistency, was once again erratic as he gave a lot of boundary balls.
Out of the seven boundaries that Head got, half a dozen came from Yadav's overs. The end from which Shami bowled, a lot of deliveries kept low and one such ball brought about the downfall of Marnus Labuschagne. It was an off-cutter and Labuschagne wanted to play the square cut but dragged it back onto the stumps. But then Khawaja took over and made sure Australia had their best opening day of the series. (PTI)
Scoreboard 4th Test: IND vs AUS; Day 1
Australia 1st Innings:
Travis Head c Jadeja b Ashwin 32
Usman Khawaja batting 104
Marnus Labuschagne b Shami 3
Steve Smith b Jadeja 38
Peter Handscomb b Shami 17
Cameron Green batting 49
Extras: (B-9, LB-1, NB-1, W-1) 12
Total: (For four wickets; 90 overs) 255
Fall of Wickets: 1-61, 2-72, 3-151, 4-170.
Bowling: Mohammed Shami 17-2-65-2, Umesh Yadav 15-2-58-0, Ravichandran Ashwin 25-8-57-1, Ravindra Jadeja 20-2-49-1, Axar Patel 12-4-14-0, Shreyas Iyer 1-0-2-0.
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- Just when Smith had started looking dangerous, Ravindra Jadeja removed him with a delivery that straightened to induce the inside edge to shatter the stumps.
- Steve Smith (38) and Usman Khawaja (66) have put Australia on top on the first day of the fourth Test match. Continuing where he left, Khawaja played with soft hands and plenty of patience, reaching his half century while his partner, Smith, who has been out of touch in the series too looked to consolidate his innings.
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Until Tea...
A dogged Usman Khawaja and a defiant skipper Steve Smith engineered Australia's most productive session on the tour, taking their side to 149 for 2 at tea against India on the opening day of the fourth Test, here on Thursday.
Khawaja, who had scored a polished half-century in Delhi, showed admirable determination to remain unbeaten on 65 off 180 balls as he added 88 runs for the unbroken third wicket with Smith (38 batting). The Australian skipper, who is otherwise, a very busy scorer, showed a different facet to his batsmanship, during the second session where Indian bowlers for the first time found it hard to dislodge the visiting team's batters.
The pitch is slow but very flat as of now and the batters are not finding any difficulty in negotiating the Indian spin troika on the back-foot. The run-rate of 2.40 would show that run-scoring wasn't very easy, save the first hour when Travis Head (32 off 44 balls) hit Umesh Yadav for a flurry of boundaries. Khawaja had a simple strategy and that was to punish anything pitched on the leg side. He got bulk of his 10 boundaries in the arc between square leg and deep mid-wicket. He also played a few shots behind the square.
Smith on the other hand was more focussed on playing within the 'V' and tapped around for a lot of singles with occasional boundaries to boot. The session belonged to Australia after Ravichandran Ashwin (1/32) and Mohammed Shami (1/31) had squared things for hosts in the second hour of the morning session.
There is nothing in the track and Australia, if they apply themselves well, could post their best total of the series. Head, in fact, must be feeling horrible as he undid all his good work in the first hour by playing an indiscreet shot. He tried to chip Ashwin over mid-on without reaching to the pitch of the delivery.
Ashwin had just altered the length slightly and deceived Head, who offered the easiest of catches to one of the world's best fielders, Ravindra Jadeja. Head got a reprieve while batting on seven when wicketkeeper KS Bharath dropped a regulation catch off Umesh Yadav's bowling. Umesh, who has always been blamed for his inconsistency, was once again erratic as he gave a lot of boundary balls.
Out of the seven boundaries that Head got, half a dozen came from Umesh's overs. The end from which Shami bowled, a lot of deliveries kept low and one such ball brought about the downfall of Labuschagne. It was an off-cutter and Labuschagne wanted to play the square cut but dragged it back onto the stumps, much to his dismay. (PTI)
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Here's the report until lunch:
Ahmedabad: Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami squared things for India in the second hour as Australia lost the initiative after an impressive start to go into lunch at 75 for two on the opening day of the fourth Test here on Thursday.
The dogged Usman Khawaja (27 batting, 94 balls) was being given company by skipper Steve Smith (2 batting, 17 balls) after Travis Head (32) and Marnus Labuschagne (3) were dismissed in quick succession by Ashwin (1/18 in 10 overs) and Shami (1/14 in 8 overs) respectively.
There is nothing in the track and Australia, if they apply themselves well, could post their best total of the series. Head, in fact, must be feeling horrible as he undid all his good work in the first hour by playing an indiscreet shot. He tried to chip Ashwin over mid-on without reaching to the pitch of the delivery.
Ashwin had just altered the length slightly and deceived Head, who offered the easiest of catches to one of the world's best fielders, Ravindra Jadeja. Head got a reprieve while batting on seven when wicketkeeper KS Bharath dropped a regulation catch off Umesh Yadav's bowling. Umesh, who has always been blamed for his inconsistency, was once again erratic as he gave a lot of boundary balls.
Out of the seven boundaries that Head got, half a dozen came from Umesh's overs. Bharath would like to forget the session in a hurry as he was troubled by inconsistent bounce on both sides of the wicket. He found it difficult to gather a lot of balls which kept low from one end, and conceded eight byes, apart from dropping a dolly.
The end from which Shami bowled, a lot of deliveries kept low and one such ball brought about the downfall of Labuschagne. It was an off-cutter and Labuschagne wanted to play the square cut but dragged it back onto the stumps, much to his dismay. (PTI)
Brief scores:
Australia 1st innings: 75/2 in 29 overs (Travis Head 32, Usman Khawaja 27 batting).
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- After stitching a crucial 61-run stand, Australia saw its first man falled in Travis Head, who scored 32 runs. Caught by Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin took his wicket.
Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad: Australia on Thursday won the toss and opted to bat against India here.
Here's what the captains of the respective teams had to say:
Rohit Sharma: We would have batted first. We know what needs to be done. Siraj is rested and Shami is back. It's always nice to have some time off. We need to regroup as a team, you can reflect on so many things. Not the surface what we saw in the first three Tests, looks a good pitch, I hope it stays the same for all five days.
Steve Smith: We are going to have a bat, playing with the same team. Looks like a nice surface, does look like a good wicket. The guys performed well last week. We'll wait and see (whether he will lead Australia in India again.)
How's the pitch?
Still a spinners' paradise with dry patches on the pich, although the grass has been evenly spread and the pitch looks well rolled. As the day progresses, the strip will help more to the spinners.
Diplomacy at the Narendra Modi stadium: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Aussie PM Mr. Anthony Albanese are present at the venue with the former being felicitated by BCCI chief Roger Binny and the latter by BCCI Secretary Jay Shah.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon
