Resolute Khawaja drops anchor to build Australia’s platform

Ahmedabad: If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese for a ride, then there was nothing freewheeling about the anchor dropped resolutely by Usman Khawaja to build a sound platform for the tourists in Ahmedabad.

Not giving a chance, Khawaja (104 not out, 251 balls) guided Australia to 4-255 after day one of the final Test, in search of a win to secure a 2-2 Border-Gavaskar series result ahead of the World Test Championship final in June.

Usman Khawaja batted out the entire day for his first Test hundred against India.Credit:Getty Images

At the start of the tour, Pakistan-born Khawaja’s visa did not arrive until after his scheduled departure flight had left, forcing him to wait 36 hours to join teammates. That after touring here in 2013 and 2017 without playing a single Test.

There was understandable joy when he clipped Mohammed Shami through midwicket in the final over for his 14th Test hundred and first against India. It was also his sixth century since a belated recall to the Test side in January last year, a period in which no other player in the world has been more prolific, or looked more at ease.

“It was a lot of emotion in that,” Khawaja told broadcasters. “I have been to India on two tours before this, and carried the drinks in eight Test matches. It was such a nice wicket; I just didn’t want to give my wicket away. It was a mental battle more than anything. You need to put your ego away.”

Khawaja’s partner for the entire afternoon session was captain Steve Smith, who scrounged his way to 38 from 135 balls when he dragged Ravindra Jadeja onto the stumps and departed, crestfallen, a few minutes into the final session. After Pete Handscomb also fell, Cameron Green (49 not out, 64 balls) demonstrated laser precision when driving and pulling for a welcome late spike in scoring.

Before the game, Smith articulated his view that flatter surfaces often require greater patience than those produced for the first three Tests, as greater time can be taken to soak up the best spells of bowlers and then capitalise when they tire.

And there was nothing at all threatening to batters, apart from sluggishness, about the pitch rolled out here: there was a little swing, but little seam or spin apart from that offered up by the political pageant that preceded play.

Khawaja’s will to make the most of these conditions, having forged a pair of princely innings in immensely difficult batting circumstances in Delhi and Indore, was plain from the opening overs.

Prime ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi at the Ahmedabad ground before the fourth Test.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The two teams were something like optional extras for the hour or so before the match: forbidden to warm-up on the ground, the captains summoned to collect their caps from Modi and Albanese, then shaking hands with their leaders and obliged to stand alongside them for the national anthems.

Spectators, too, seemed to have been drawn as much for politics as Test cricket. The attendance peaked around 50,000 for the pageant and the opening session, then ebbed away steadily across a hot afternoon.

Shami’s opening ball was a wild wide, and amid a few more extras, KS Bharat missed an entirely straightforward edge behind from Travis Head off Umesh Yadav. Thus reprieved, Head started to motor, and the 50 was raised in 13 overs.

After the introduction of Ravichandran Ashwin, Head’s insistence upon attack brought his downfall, clumping to mid-on. Marnus Labuschagne shaped to work Shami into the covers and dragging onto the stumps to underline the slowness of the pitch.

Smith was beaten once when Ashwin worked the ball across him, drawing an “oooh” from the crowd, but otherwise offered sound defence and patience opposite Khawaja’s deep reserves of concentration: it took 30 balls before Smith found the boundary.

For Khawaja, the amiable character of the pitch allowed a return to the bubble he had batted in almost constantly throughout last year’s Test series in Pakistan. Implicitly trusting his defence, dispatching anything short or leg side, and occupying the crease in a near meditative state.

It was not until 30 minutes after tea that Jadeja became the first bowler to beat Khawaja’s bat, and he also avoided any temptation to sweep or reverse, firm in the belief that he could absorb any pressure imposed in such conditions. It was a task beyond Smith and also Handscomb, who twice hooked confidently before hanging back to Shami’s subtle reverse swing and losing off stump.

On another level, in the presence of Modi’s festivities, Khawaja went about proving something else. As things stand politically, he is as close as anyone is likely to see a Pakistani cricketer batting and succeeding at this stadium for a long, long time.

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.

Most Viewed in Sport

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article