Australia v India 4th Test: Australia 4-255 after day one
Usman Khawaja made his mark on the series with a sublime century, as a late flurry alongside Cam Green gave Australia the edge after day one. Get all the highlights from the opening day here.
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In Usman we trust. The Queenslander, come to Australia from Pakistan, hit a century on the first day of the fourth Test and proved once again that he has matured into an opener for all occasions.
Pakistan, Australia, Sri Lanka and India are all the same to the languid left hander and with any luck he will prove equally as fruitful in England later this year.
His patient application in 50 plus partnerships with Travis Head (32) and Steve Smith (38) gave Australia the early advantage.
Then, when quick wickets fell, the future arrived.
Cameron Green, late to this series, settled nerves when quick wickets fell after tea. The enormous all rounder smashed India’s bowlers to all parts, countering their lengths with his and moving toward a half century with ease.
There are few in the world who make batting look so simple.
Khawaja is 104no from 251 balls, his young partner 49 no form 64. Australia well placed at 4-255 after winning the toss.
“There’s a lot of emotion in that. I’ve been to India two times before this and carried the drinks all eight Test matches,” Khawaja said.
“To finally get a hundred in India as an Australian that’s what you want to do, that’s what you want to tick off. Pretty special.”
In the first two Tests of this series everything seemed to have gone wrong for the visitors, but how things have changed.
Australia, appropriately at a Test match which began as a political event, did the opposition slow in the first two sessions, grinding the bowlers down. After losing two wickets in the first session, Smith and Khawaja showed no haste in the heat and went to tea at 2-175.
In Head, Australia has an Asian opener for tours to come – and when he learns to keep his head the team will find it in position to win more games than it loses. In Smith, it has, as everybody already knew, a batsman of unnatural skills and unerring dedication.
Unfortunately the acting captain was out on 38 from 158 patient balls, falling to a poor shot after tea, and yet again failing to make fifty.
Nobody is expecting Head to become the energy-saving device that is his partner Khawaja. His hands are harder and his heart beats faster, he advances rapidly and can change a game in an hour. But unlike the more experienced pair, he is prone to brain fades and was not there when they made the most of a bowling attack struggling on a benign wicket under a malignant afternoon sun.
Khawaja is a banker. In Australia’s first innings of the last three Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy he has meandered his way to 50 or more. Nothing better illustrated that than the still bat he used to glide a four down to third man and bring up the mark.
Mohammed Shami, who was slaving and steaming in the unnatural heat of the cauldron that is Narendra Modi Stadium, provided the ball all the momentum it needed. Khawaja was statue still, unwilling to waste energy with any unnecessary movement.
In the 16 Tests since returning to the team during the 2021-22 Ashes, he has hit six centuries and seven scores of 50 or more at an average of 67. His 81 in Delhi set up the game, so too his 60 in Indore.
Australia appeared to have won the first battle of the fourth Test before a ball was bowled.
Before even the circus scenes of the two nations’ prime ministers shamelessly leveraging the popularity of their respective teams, the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium revealed itself to be singularly lacking in stunts. No bare spinning patches in strategic positions, no sedation in the middle to thwart the seamers, the BCCI curators had prepared a deck that offered batsmen a fair chance to demonstrate their skills.
Perhaps it was a reaction to the ICC “poor” rating in Indore, hopefully it was an acknowledgment that Tests which finish on the third day – as all three of the first encounters had – rob fans, broadcasters and the game.
Maybe it was an acknowledgment that veteran Nathan Lyon and the two debutants have bowled so well to the Indian batsmen that any advantage rendered by raging turners was lost.
India started poorly. Mohammed Shami’s first over was all over the shop, KS Bharat dropped a simple chance to give Head a reprieve when he was on seven, Ashwin gifted Khawaja a half-tracker and Ravi Jadeja’s lazy attempt to use his feet when fielding off his own bowling conceded a single which underlined the sloppiness.
Perhaps they were intimidated to be performing in front a prime minister who demands demonstrations of national pride. Earlier Modi had raised the hands of Anthony Albanese, Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma as if this was some boxing sideshow. When play started, he and his Australian counterpart watched down from the “gods’’, strategically positioned behind the bowler’s arms and a hoarding that bore both their faces.
A good crowd, conjured through some local mysteries that may never be revealed, turned out early to navigate the security and a rumoured lockout, but in a stadium this vast – it holds 132,000 people – it was still only half-full.
Head, presented with the best batting wicket he will encounter in these parts, flayed occasionally but reached drinks on 31 from 39 balls, getting all but three of the runs via the stadium’s vast boundaries. He added just one more before aiming an injudicious and ill-timed hoik, aiming to hit Ashwin over mid-on but instead hitting it lamely to that position.
It was an unnecessary shot and prevented him from taking full advantage of the better conditions that would follow in the afternoon.
Marnus Labuschagne also threw his wicket away and with it a chance to exploit the conditions.
FOLLOW ALL THE BIGGEST DAY 1 MOMENTS WITH NEWS CORP CRICKET WRITER BEN HORNE BELOW.
10:19PM KHAWAJA BRINGS UP BRILLIANT TON AS GREEN STEAMROLLS INDIA
A decade ago, Usman Khawaja was banned from playing for Australia in India over the Homeworkgate fiasco, but now he is the King of Ahmedabad.
Khawaja brought up his 14th Test hundred – his first ever against India – in a magnificent performance which takes his remarkable career renaissance to another level.
After six hours of toil, Khawaja made it to a treasured triple figure score in the last over of the day, as he celebrated a potentially game-shaping knock in 246 balls.
Khawaja will resume on day two 104 not out, with Australia 4-255 and firmly in control as they chase what would be a historic drawn series in India, when it appeared all was lost after two Tests.
This is Khawaja’s third tour to India, but only the first time he has actually played. Now he is showing Australia what it missed out on all those years.
Cameron Green was also superb for Australia, and will resume 49 not out off just 64 balls.
Australia would have been nervous when Peter Handscomb departed to leave them 4-170 on a good batting wicket, but big all-rounder Green ensured day one of the fourth Test finished as a commanding triumph for the visitors.
Driven by Green’s clean-hitting, his partnership with Khawaja in the last session was worth 85 from just 116 balls.
In the last nine overs, Australia added 54 runs in a passage of play that may have turned the Test match.
Commentators were critical of Australia’s slow scoring – especially Steve Smith – given the conditions were finally suited for batting for the first time this series.
But Green was “seeing them like beach balls” according to Khawaja.
It made a mockery of India’s puzzling decision to take the second new ball as soon as it was due.
Until that moment the Indian spinners were keeping things tight with the old ball.
But Green feasted on the harder new ball and smashed India’s pacemen all around the ground.
Now the ball will be softer when India resumes on day two.
Khawaja’s patience was world class and he now deserves to be considered well and truly the best opener on the planet at the moment.
This at 36 years of age.
He is now Australia’s key man for the Ashes later this year – this from a man who only made it back into Test cricket due to Travis Head contracting Covid last summer.
Khawaja’s past 14 months have been truly exceptional.
He now has a record not out of place among the greats of Test cricket.
A career that looked as though it might go unfulfilled is now being given a resounding final chapter that is showing no sign of slowing down.
8:39PM SMITH BRAIN FADE PUTS AUSTRALIA’S FATE IN KHAWAJA’S HANDS
Indian great Ravi Shastri has accused Australian captain Steve Smith of being “over cautious” after a meek dismissal was compounded soon after when Peter Handscomb followed him back to the pavilion.
Smith looked set for a big innings until an innocuous shot saw him play onto his stumps from a nothing delivery from Indian spinner Ravi Jadeja.
Out for 38 off 135 balls, Shastri said Smith had wasted an opportunity to put India to the sword on a favourable batting deck.
“Far too over cautious today,” Shastri said on Fox Cricket.
“The pitch was good for batting. It was the best time to score runs. I was surprised.”
Smith’s departure brought about the worst possible result, in that Handscomb survived only 27 balls before he too was on his way.
Australia was in supreme control after making their way through the first wicketless session of the series in the middle session of the day.
But the visitors are now 4-170 and there is now plenty riding on Usman Khawaja converting his 69 not out into a big hundred in Ahmedabad.
Handscomb had his off-stump cartwheeled out of the ground by Mohammed Shami.
The Victorian had smashed three boundaries, and was looking to play a much more attacking style than he did in the third Test, where he was accused by former Australian great Matthew Hayden of batting in an “un-Australian” way.
7:48PM INDIAN STAR CAUGHT IN FINGER TAPE CONTROVERSY
Australia dominated the second session in Ahmedabad to the point India was forced to throw part-time spinner Shreyas Iyer into the fray in a desperate bid to take a wicket.
Shreyas was such a fish out of water he had left tape on a finger on his bowling hand and after his first delivery was ordered to remove it by the umpire.
The ICC’s laws state bowlers aren’t allowed to wear tape or bandages on their bowling fingers.
Australia is 2-149 at tea on day one of the fourth Test, with Usman Khawaja 65 not out and Steve Smith unbeaten on 38.
It is the first session of the entire series where no wickets have fallen.
Khawaja and Smith haven’t looked like getting out, with Australia way on top in the match.
The scoring rate has been steady rather than on fast forward like the previous three Tests, but for the first time in the series, this is a match that appears destined to go longer than three days.
It shapes as an old-fashioned grind over five days unless the pitch drastically changes, and Khawaja and Smith are up for the fight.
Khawaja has now made half-centuries in three consecutive Test matches in a series where only eight 50s and one 100 have been scored overall.
7:11PM KHAWAJA MAKES BRILLIANT 50 TO CONTINUE CAREER RENAISSANCE
Born-again Test batsman Usman Khawaja is continuing his stunning career renaissance with another brilliant half-century in India.
Khawaja has been outstanding on his way to 56 off 159 and has been a study of concentration as he looks for a maiden Test hundred in India.
In a series where there’s only been one hundred and eight half centuries scored, Khawaja has three of the 50s.
He is the best opener in world cricket at the moment and at 36 years of age he is defying Father Time.
With an Ashes tour approaching, Khawaja now shapes as the key man in Australia’s hopes.
Khawaja now averages 47 in Test cricket which puts him in the same stratosphere as some of the all-time greats.
Steve Smith is also looking set for a big one on a good batting track, and is 31 not out with Australia 2-133 and in a position of power.
6:35PM DAMNING STATS EXPOSE INDIA’S PITCH FARCE
Australia might be defying the trend with a strong start to the fourth Test, but serious questions are being asked about the trend of Test cricket in India over the past 15 years.
A lot is made about how difficult it’s to win in India, but has the home nation tipped the scales so far in their own favour that it is no longer a fair contest?
Fox Cricket has exposed extraordinary stats which show the role pitches have played in killing batting skill in India since 2008.
On Australia’s 2008 tour of India the average batting score for both teams was 41.36, with nine hundreds scored and 27 half centuries.
In 2010 when Australia next toured, the average was down to 36.72, although it was only a two-Test series so understandable that the hundred count went down to just four.
In 2013, the average was slashed again to 32.83, although the milestones increased slightly to seven hundreds and 17 half centuries.
In 2017, the average was again down to 27.30.
On this current 2023 tour, the average was at a staggeringly low 21.09, with only one hundred and just seven half centuries.
Defenders of India’s controversial pitch preparing argue that this is just what it’s like to play in India.
But the numbers clearly show conditions are getting extreme – either that or Test batting standards are on a steep decline.
The fact not even all-time greats like Steve Smith or Virat Kohli have been able to score has Fox Cricket expert Brad Haddin feeling the pitches prepares have created an imbalance between bat and ball.
“I think it’s a problem. What we are seeing – Virat Kohli, he hasn’t scored a hundred in three years ... what we are seeing is a lot of luck comes into your play,” Haddin said.
“Now what we want to see is Steve Smith hundreds, we want to see Kohli. We want to see the skill of the batsmen.
“At the moment we’re not seeing the true skill. It’s more about luck because the surfaces are too one sided between bat and ball.”
Fellow great Mark Waugh agreed.
“Teams are getting bowled out for 200 … a Test match batting should be looking at around 350. That’s the scoreline a good batting side will get in a Test match,” Waugh said.
“At the moment it’s a lottery. These wickets are way too much in favour of the spinners in India in particular.”
5:22PM HEAD SQUANDERS CHANCE TO MAKE INDIA ‘PAY’
Honours were shared after the first session of the fourth Test, with India taking two wickets despite bowling badly.
Australia flew past the 50-run mark after just 13 overs, but hit the skids after Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne departed in quick succession.
Australia is 2-75 and in a strong position, but they may lament a chance to really put their foot to the floor.
Head missed a golden opportunity to post his first hundred in India, after smashing seven boundaries in his 32 off 44 balls.
Ex-greats were critical of Head for not putting India to the sword after they dropped him on 7.
Wicketkeeper KS Bharat dropped an absolute sitter from a regulation nick, but Head only added 25 when there was an opportunity to bury the Indians who had little answer for his run-scoring prowess.
“He should have made them pay a lot more. India didn’t have an answer for Travis Head,” Fox expert Brad Haddin said.
“These are the moments you have to capitalise on in the sub-continent. In the end it was a really soft dismissal for someone who can change the game.”
Fellow Fox Cricket expert Mark Waugh said Head was “impatient” and didn’t need to be so extravagant on a true batting surface where he believes 400 is a par score.
Losing Labuschagne for just 3 a short time later compounded the Head setback and suddenly Australia’s scoring stalled.
Labuschagne was guilty of not getting forward to the ball and played onto his own stumps off the bowling of Mohammed Shami.
However, the positive for Australia is Usman Khawaja looks strapped in for a long innings after another superb performance at the top of the order.
Khawaja has been rock solid for his 27 not out off 94 balls and is at the crease with Steve Smith (2 not out off 17 balls).
4:46PM LABUSCHAGNE EXITS EARLY TO BRING SMITH TO THE CREASE
Marnus Labuschagne is Australia’s leading run-scorer this series, but has failed to make an impact in the first innings of the fourth Test.
The Australian No.3 chopped on facing Indian seamer Mohammed Shami, who struggled early with some wild deliveries, but struck back with the big wicket.
Australia is still in a strong position at 2-73 but need another big partnership on what looks like a high scoring batting track.
4:10PM HEAD FAILS TO MAKE MOST OF EARLY LIFE
Travis Head is the first man to fall for Australia in the fourth Test, missing a golden opportunity to score big in Ahmedabad.
Head should have been out caught behind for 7, and was able to add 25 to his score before eventually playing a loose shot to depart for 32 off 44 balls.
But the damage could have been much greater for India.
Head has smashed seven boundaries in his opening cameo to push Australia past the 50-run mark after just 13 overs and the visitors are now 1-62 after 16 overs.
In the Head tried to charge Ravi Ashwin but didn’t get much of the shot and Ravi Jadeja was the safe pair of hands to take the catch.
The wicket was desperately needed for India after wicketkeeper KS Bharat had an absolute shocker dropping a regulation nick offered by Head off the bowling of Umesh Yadav early in the day when the ball was swinging.
3:35PM HEAD GIVEN LIFE ON 7 THANKS TO SHOCKING DROP
India’s wild start to the fourth Test has gone from bad to worse with wicketkeeper KS Bharat dropping Travis Head in a miss not often seen at Test level.
Head gave a regulation nick off the bowling of Umesh Yadav and should have been out for 7, but Bharat couldn’t manage to glove the straight forward catch which came to him at a regulation height.
Bharat was sent flying all around the place in the first few overs thanks to some wild deliveries from Mohammed Shami, but couldn’t take the sitter.
The ball basically missed Bharat’s gloves and smashed into his chest.
Head is not the type of player you want to give a life to as Australia progress to 0-26.
3:19PM MOHAMMED SHAMI HAS ‘HARMISON’ MOMENT TO START TEST
It was shades of Steve Harmison in Ahmedabad, with Mohammed Shami bowling a stunning wide with the first ball of the fourth Test.
Shami barely landed the delivery on the pitch before it hooped away to be taken by Virat Kohli at second slip.
Later in the same over, Shami bowled another wide delivery that swung away from the keeper so violently it raced away for four.
Australia raced to 0-10 off the first over, and more byes from Shami in the third over took Australia to 0-15 after Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bat first.
Eight of the 15 runs have been byes.
Indian great Sunil Gavaskar was scathing on Shami for not getting it right from the first delivery, but more so the Indian selectors who rested the fast bowler for the third Test and broke his natural rhythm.
FOURTH TEST, DAY ONE LIVE - WITH BEN HORNE2.36PM AUSTRALIA WINS THE TOSS
Commentators are tipping a batting paradise in the fourth Test at Ahmedebad, but warned Steve Smith’s men face a seaming barrage in the first session.
Australia won the toss and have elected to bat – a massive advantage in Indian conditions – but as the first three Tests have proven, not necessarily make-or-break in the result.
The team that has lost the toss has won all three Tests so far, but Fox Sports experts Brad Haddin and Mark Waugh believe the pitch looks like it could be a good batting wicket.
That said, there’s a feeling there could be plenty there for Indian seamers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav on the first morning.
Players were banned from warming up on the field due to the political rally taking place with Indian PM Narendra Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese.
Australia have named an unchanged side from the team that won the third Test – with Travis Head and Usman Khawaja to open the batting.
India has made one change with Shami in for Mohammad Siraj.
Shami getting some serious early swing.
— Scott Phillips (@TMFScottP) March 9, 2023
Steve Harmison is the Indian fast bowling coach?
Gotta love Test cricket.#INDvAUS
Never a good omen when Steve Harmison's 2006 Ashes wide is invoked first ball. #IndvAus
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) March 9, 2023
Mohammed Harmison #INDvAUS
— Tim Michell (@tim_michell) March 9, 2023
GROUND WARM UPS BANNED AS PM VISIT STEALS SPOTLIGHT
Peter Lalor in India
Enormous crowds have flocked to the even more enormous Narendra Modi Stadium for a critical Test match and a political show the likes cricket has never seen.
Billboards bear his face in the main intersections of Ahmedabad, but the 60 minute spectacle to greet Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the cricket on Thursday morning is something to behold.
Details seen by News Corp reveal a mini Olympic opening ceremony when the Australian prime minister attends the game with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the enormous ground named after the Hindu leader.
Albanese and Modi will partake in a lap of honour, standing in an open topped vehicle and partake in an hour long ceremony leading up to the first ball.
“Felicitations” include a performance by 2022 Grammy award-winning American based Indian singer Falguni Shah.
Modi and Albanese will present captains Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith with special Test caps before the toss and will then be introduced to the players.
News Corp revealed last week that the Indian authorities had put aside 85,000 tickets for “local families and students” on the first day in the 132,000 seat stadium.
Tickets for visiting Australian fans were only released after background negotiations following the report.
Albanese is in India leading a top level trade negotiation but the Indian PM has turned the visit to his home town into a celebration of 75 years cricket friendship between the two countries.
The pair will, as part of the carefully choreographed event, inaugurate a Friendship Hall of Fame while the toss and captain interviews take place on the field.
Albanese and Modi will both stand on the field for the playing of their respective national anthems before play begins.
I understand neither team will be able to warm up out on the field this morning and have been relegated to the outside nets to accommodate the political meeting between Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese #INDvAUS
— Oliver Caffrey (@ollycaffrey) March 9, 2023
The road to the massive stadium is lined with images of both leaders and a huge billboard has been erected at the Adani stand end with their faces on it.
Security around the stadium is tight but not ridiculous.
The Australians left the team hotel at 7am and were out inspecting the pitch with the sun low in the sky.
Given the choice between a red and black clay pitch the home side has chosen the latter which is said to bound less and further advantage their spinners. That move, however, backfired in Indore where veteran Nathan Lyon with the young pair Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy more than matched them. Credit too to the batters, especially Usman Khawaja who set up the game with a 60.
Lyon took 11 wickets in the game and was awarded the man of the match. The series is 2-1 and a win here would be a huge achievement for the Australians.
India’s loss in India was just the third against a visiting side in the past 10 years.
BUNNINGS SECRET THAT PREPARED MARNUS FOR INDIA
No matter what style of cricket pitch gets thrown at Australia in Ahmedabad, Marnus Labuschagne knows this … he’s batted on a tougher one inside his home.
It was a black mat he bought from Bunnings and he dotted it with random aluminium sheets.
He used it in his backyard and hallway to prepare himself for last year’s tour of Pakistan and has used similar ones since.
Balls fly everywhere at crazy angles on Marnus’ homemade monsters but they do have a broader purpose than boys having fun.
With one Test to play Labuschagne has quietly nibbled, nudged and noodled his way to the top of the Australian averages on tour without slapping down the big innings he obviously craves.
The numbers don’t take the breath away – 178 runs at 35 but in a bowler-dominated series you could argue 35 is more like 50 so it’s comparatively strong.
Labuschagne has scored more runs in India than any other Australian (Usman Khawaja is next best with 153) and faced more balls (375) and scored more fours (27) than any player from either side.
He is yet to crack a half century (49 is his best) but his passion for dodgy deck cricket is such that he gets off the challenge rather than being intimidated by it and is benefited by the crazy challenges he confronts when he takes on his mates on his Bunnings barnstormers at home.
Labuschagne once said if a team scores more than 17 runs in backyard cricket the wicket is too flat.
Annnd the batting video pic.twitter.com/6IQpqyvlsC
— Marnus Labuschagne (@marnus3cricket) February 17, 2022
Playing around with recreating spinning conditions in the backyard ðŸ pic.twitter.com/votnKELwCH
— Marnus Labuschagne (@marnus3cricket) February 17, 2022
“Of course it helps,’’ Labuschagne told News Corp earlier this season about batting on treacherous homemade decks.
“I play a lot of backyard cricket with my mates but when I am playing it I am learning. I am not just sitting there hitting balls and mucking around.
“You are always growing. There are definitely times when those skills cross over in to Test cricket.
“Those skills grow. They compile into something. You don’t know when it pays off.’’
Another South African born batsman, Kepler Wessels, found the same thing when he used to deliberately sprinkle the practice nets at Brisbane Valleys with granite before he played for Queensland or Australia.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy may be gone but Australia have much to play for in the last Test.
An Australian victory and a 2-2 result would be an exceptional bottom line for a team which has four players – including its captain – back home due to injury, form or personal reasons.
There are times when Australia seems a moon ride away from winning a series in India and others when it appears within touching distance.
Australia were poised to seriously threaten India in the second Test in Delhi before being bowled out in a session. They were two good batting hours away from potentially being 2-1 up in the series.
Australia’s narrow loss to India in the 2001 series paved the way for a famous Australian victory in 2004.
The lessons of this series may also count for a lot – if Australia is prepared to learn from them.
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Originally published as Australia v India 4th Test: Australia 4-255 after day one
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