Khawaja’s epic 180 and Green’s maiden century help Australia grind India down

Australia have finished on 480 after Usman Khawaja’s epic 180 and Cameron Green’s debut Test century made India’s bowlers toil for almost two days in the field.

The tourists made the most of the best batting pitch of the series, forcing India to bowl 168 overs and take a third new ball in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.

Australia had 10 overs to bowl at the hosts before stumps but India comfortably survived to finish 36-0, a deficit 444.

India captain Rohit Sharma (17 not out) and young opener Shubman Gill (18 not out) will resume batting on Saturday with Australia desperate for early breakthroughs.

Khawaja made the third-best score by an Australian in India, finishing only behind Dean Jones (210 in 1986) and Matthew Hayden (203 in 2001).

The 36-year-old opener’s 10-hour epic came from 422 balls – the most deliveries an Australian has ever faced in India in an innings.

Australia comfortably reached the best total of the series, from either side, thanks to Khawaja and Green’s 208-run fifth-wicket stand.

It ended up being Australia’s best score in India since they tallied 577 in Delhi in 2008.

Green (114) played a brilliant, chanceless knock full of stunning drives to break through for a century that had been more than two years in the making.

The 23-year-old has made at least one significant contribution with the bat in every series he has played in since debuting at Adelaide Oval against India in December 2020.

Khawaja and Green’s partnership was the second-best by an Australian pair in a Test in India, only falling short of Allan Border and Kim Hughes’ 222-run stand in 1979.

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