Usman Khawaja played brilliant innings on the 1st day of the fourth Test against Australia. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy match at Ahmedabad on Thursday, Khawaja registered his first Test century against India. He combined his patience with grit to score his 14th Test hundred and powered his side to 255/4 at the end of day 1.
After dominating the batters in the first three matches of the series, the Indian spinners struggled to trouble the Australians at the Narendra Modi Stadium which turned out to be a better wicket. Khawaja who is currently the leading run-scorer in the tournament struck 15 boundaries in his unbeaten 104-run knock throughout his six-hour stay.
Usman Khawaja's performance in the previous 5 Test innings:
- 104* - AUS vs IND (9th March 2023)
- 0 - AUS vs IND (1st March 2023)
- 60 - AUS vs IND (1st March 2023)
- 6 - AUS vs IND (17th February 2023)
- 81 - AUS vs IND (17th February 2023)
After smashing the century, Khawaja expressed his happiness and said how it was very special.
"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," he said.
Khawaja emphasized how it was a mental battle to stay at the crease.
"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," he added.
Usman Khawaja's performance for Australia against India in Tests:
- Innings played: 15
- Total runs: 455
- Average runs: 35.00
- Highest Score: 104*
- Strike-rate: 39.84
- 50s: 3
- 100s: 1
