It has been a tough start to the third Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Indore. The pitch has been heavily criticized for keeping low and producing too much spin on the first day itself. It resulted in India getting bundled out for a paltry 109. In response the Australians have also had their fair share of challenges and have lost four wickets.
But one man who held the Australian innings together was Usman Khawaja. The Aussie opener scored 60 valuable runs on the Indore pitch and looked positive in his approach. He even got out trying to slog sweep Ravidnra Jadeja for a six.
On a pitch where many people thought scoring a fifty would require an absolute miracle, Usman Khawaja has once again shown the world that he is someone who can adapt to different situations and that brings out the fierce competitor in him. He was so good that former Australia captain Ian Chappell showered praises of his knock and hailed his mentality on a deadly track against exceptional spinners.
Chappell feels Khawaja is the only Australian batter who has shown trust in his defensive technique and also found out a way to play spin on these pitches keeping his usual calm demeanor.
“His half-century today was very, very important. He does have a calmness about his play. I think he has worked out a method to play in India. He is one of the Australian players who has trusted his defence in this series. I don’t think a lot of Australians trusted their defence in the first Tests, but Khawaja has throughout,” Chappell said on ESPN Cricinfo after stumps on Day 1.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer also praised the left-handed batter for his sense of calmness and carefree mentality. Jaffer highlighted that Khawaja was good in Delhi as well and was unfazed by all the talk around the pitch.
“Khawaja did look very impressive in Delhi as well,” he added. “He comes out and backs his game, that’s what I like about it. Irrespective of how the pitch is playing, or what’s happening around him. Even at the start of the Test match, he looked very relaxed, even when there was a lot of talk about how the pitch is going to play,” Jaffer lauded.
Australia ended Day 1 at 156/4 with Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green both at the crease. Apart from Khawaja Marnus Labuschagne showed some resolve in his 31-run knock where Steve Smith who was also looking good perished trying to be overaggressive. Courtesy of a brilliant innings from Khawaja, the visitors at the end of Day 1 have a cushion of 47 runs lead on a difficult track which will only get worse as the game progresses.
