IND vs AUS: Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green join elite company after stellar show with bat in Ahmedabad

Australian pairing of Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green joined a special club of Australian players after dismantling the Indian bowling attack in the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad. The pair recorded a 208-run stand for the fifth wicket as the visitors took total command on Day 2 of the contest. The Aussies, already in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) are looking to add a spanner in the work for the Indian team and prevent them from reaching the final of the showpiece event.

Taking over from 255/4 at stumps on Day 1, the Aussie pair started brightly before Green brought his fifty. The pair went on relentless attack on the Indian bowlers as they brought a 100-run stand in the first 30 minutes of play. Things only got better for them as the match progressed with both Green and Khawaja ending with their respective tons.

While Green was going well, his dismissal on 114 in the second session by Ravichandran Ashwin brought curtains on the partnership. However, the pair registered Australia’s second-highest partnership on Indian soil in Test cricket, only missing out on Alan Border and Kim Hughes’ tally of the 222-run stand. The former Australia skipper and Hughes had recorded the stand in September 1979 at the Madras Cricket Club Ground in Chepauk (nowadays M. Chinnaswamy Stadium).

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While the pair failed to break Border and Hughes’ record, both Khawaja and Green made sure that the visitors sat in a commanding position on Day 2. Khawaja, unfortunately, missed out on a double ton as he was dismissed on 180 by Axar Patel while Green scored 114, his maiden ton in Test cricket. The Aussies were dismissed for 480 in the final session of Day 2 and have given India a big headache as they try to narrow the first-innings deposit.