India vs Australia 4th Test: Visitors solid at tea break on Day 1; Khawaja notches up fifty, Smith resists

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Ahmedabad, March 9: It was the first session after three Tests when a session remained wicketless as Australia reached 149/2 at the tea break on Day 1 of the fourth and final Test against India.

Captain Steve Smith (38* off 129 balls) and opener Usman Khawaja (65* off 180 balls) have shared a stand of 77* off 238 deliveries for the third wicket as Australian batters dominated the post-lunch session at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday (March 9).

Usman Khawaja continues to impress

Khawaja - who slammed his third Test half-century in the ongoing series - put Indian bowlers to grind and played a crucial knock to put his team in a commanding position alongside stand-in captain Smith.

The left-and-right-handed batting combination applied itself brilliantly on a surface where batting looked easy, for a change. Khawaja and Smith - who resumed batting in the second session from 75/2 - ended up adding 74 runs in the next session.

Smith - who has failed to slam a single fifty on this tour - is aiming to get to his first 50 against a quality Indian bowling attack.

Australia solid at tea break

By the tea break, captain Rohit Sharma operated all five of his premier bowlers diligently in the post-lunch session but all failed to get a breakthrough.

Mohammed Shami (31/1 in 11 overs), Umesh Yadav (35/0 in 10 overs), R Ashwin (32/1 in 18 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (28/0 in 13 overs), and Axar Patel (12/0 after 9 overs) had bowled but couldn't pick up a single wicket. Rohit also introduced part-time spinner Shreyas Iyer (2/0 from 1 over) but that move too didn't bear any fruits as they failed to get any breakthrough.

Earlier in the first session, Khawaja (27 batting, 94 balls) was being given company by Smith (2 batting, 17 balls) after opener Travis Head (32) and top-order batter Marnus Labuschagne (3) were dismissed in quick succession by Ashwin (1/18 in 10 overs) and Shami (1/14 in 8 overs) respectively.