The all important 4th and final test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2023 has begun with Day 1 getting to a great start at the World’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad. It is going be an important match for India and they have a must win game in hand in order to qualify for the ICC World Test Championship 2023 at Oval on June 7th.
Australia after winning the toss at the Narendra Modi Stadium chose to bat first in a batting friendly pitch. The visitors got off to a decent start through Travis Head and Usman Khawaja before the latter headed to the dressing room for 32. After Head’s dismissal, Usman Khawaja has been running the show at Ahmedabad.
Fifty for Usman Khawaja. His 3rd fifty plus in this Test series, most by any player in this series. He scored 53* runs from 146 balls against India. He is the best batsman for Australia in this series. pic.twitter.com/numvQ6OUF8
— Tanuj (@ImTanujSingh) March 9, 2023
The Left-handed opener has now become the only batter in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy to score 3 half centuries. No other batter other than him has been able to do so. After a quite outing with the bat in the first test, Khawaja responded with a 81 off 125 balls in the 1st innings of the 2nd test where the Aussies gave India a 2-0 lead.
Third fifty-plus score this series for Usman Khawaja in the fourth Test.#WTC23 | #INDvAUS | 📝 https://t.co/VJoLfVSMyd pic.twitter.com/0cTudbd36j
— ICC (@ICC) March 9, 2023
His 2nd half-century of the series came in Australia’s 9-wicket win at Indore and there Khawaja amassed an important 60 off 147 balls. And here at Ahmedabad, Usman Khawaja has continued with his scoring spree and is not-out at 65 off 180 deliveries alongside Captain Steve Smith.
That will be Tea on Day 1️⃣ of the fourth #INDvAUS Test!
A hard fought session for #TeamIndia as Australia move to 149/2.
Join us shortly for the final session of the day 💪
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/8DPghkx0DE@mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/k1bZBNbM8J
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 9, 2023
The visitors at the end of 2nd session are 149/2.
Meanwhile, it was Usman Khawaja’s 21st half century for Australia in test cricket and he will be looking forward to convert this half-century into triple digits. The 36-year-old has been able to score fifties but a century has gone missing in this series.
His last Test ton came against South Africa earlier this year and today he will hope to smack his 14th Test century. He is in the crease with Steve Smith who is playing at 38 and the righty-lefty duo are 23 runs away from a 100-run partnership.
