Usman Khawaja hits first hundred vs India, adds another episode to his glorious comeback saga

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Australia openers Usman Khawaja continued his dream run in his second coming after slamming a hundred off 246 balls on Day 1 of the fourth Test against India. He reached the milestone with a boundary off Mohammed Shami.

The hundred is first by an Australian in the ongoing tour. Notably, only India captain Rohit Sharma had hit a hundred in the series so far. No player scored a hundred in the second and third Test of the 4-match Border Gavaskar series. The hundred is also Khawaja's first against India. Also, he is the first Australian left-hand batter to score a Test hundred in India in 12 Tests and 13 years. Marcus North was the last left-hander to score a Test hundred in India in Bengaluru in 2010-11.

Usman Khawaja comeback story reaches new height

The 36-year-old has now hit six hundreds since his comeback in January 2022. Two of them came against England, two against Pakistan, one each against South Africa and India each. Khawaja hadn't played Test cricket since August 2019 and the southpaw had gone on record to admit that he thought his Test career was over. However, he got another opportunity after his good friend Travis Head contracted Covid-19 ahead of the Sydney Test against England in January 2022. He scored a double hundred in both the innings and never looked back since then.

Khawaja, the number nine ranked Test batter in the world, has played a crucial role in Australia's sub-continental tours in the last couple of years. In Pakistan, he finished the 3-Tests series as the leading run-scorer. The Islamabad-born cricketer finished as the top-run scorer in the series. He slammed two hundreds and two fifties to finish with 496 runs at an average of 165.33. On the back of his solid run, Australia won the series 1-0.

Since his return to the Australia eleven in 2022, he has scored 1532 runs in 16 matches at an average of 69.63. He is currently the leading run-scorer in the ongoing series as well. Khawaja has scored 257 runs in 7 innings (7th ongoing) at an average of 42.83. He happens to be the only batter in the series to score a hundred in two fifties.

Just ahead of the Test match, stand-in captain Steve Smith called him the best Australia batter on the tour and he proved him right by delivering on a batting-friendly wicket. After completing his 14th Test hundred (5th outside Australia), he ended Day 1 with unbeaten 104 which included 15 boundaries. The hundred also helped Australia end Day 1 with a solid 255 runs for the loss of just four wickets.