Key Highlights :
1. Usman Khawaja combined patience with grit to score his 14th Test hundred that guided Australia to a comfortable 255 for four.
2. The Indian spinners struggled to trouble the Australians with the Motera track, as anticipated, turning out to be a better wicket.
3. 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.
4. At stumps the Pakistan-born Khwaja had Cameron Green (49) for company.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10.
Usman Khawaja guides Australia to comfortable 255/4 on Day 1 of Ahmedabad Test.
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