Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green take Australia to 255/4 at stumps on Day 1
Ahmedabad, Mar 9: Usman Khawaja combined patience with grit to raise his 14th Test hundred that guided Australia to a comfortable 255 for four as a keen contest between bat and ball marked the opening day of the fourth and final match, here on Thursday.
After dominating the batters in the first three matches of the series, the Indian spinners struggled to trouble the Australians with the Motera track, as anticipated, turning out to be a better wicket.
Khawaja, Australia's best batter on the tour, was determination- personified throughout his six-hour stay as he struck 15 boundaries in his unbeaten 104-run knock.
At stumps the Pakistan-born Khwaja had Cameron Green (49) for company.
As a southpaw, neither does Khawaja have the panache of someone like a David Warner nor the brute power of a Matthew Hayden, who was capable of executing slog sweeps fetching deliveries from wide outside the off-stump.
His game maybe pretty low on aesthetics but is highly impactful as he came across as a batter, who wouldn't try anything which is outside his comfort zone.
Anything pitched on his legs was punished through the leg-side while the occasional cover drive would come out of the closet, like one off Jadeja in the final session.
Otherwise, it was just playing the ball late and rocking on the back-foot, while whipping Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja through the square-leg or mid-wicket region.
It was only fitting that an on-drive off Mohammed Shami (2/65), brought up what would be one of his most cherished Test hundreds that he celebrated with his now-customary leap in the air.
For someone, who faced racism during his early years, with typical Asian stereotype jibes like "Curry Muncher", life did make Khawaja mentally tough and he has shone through time and again during his second coming -- be it Sydney, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Delhi or now in Ahmedabad.
It did help that there was no devil on the Motera track and with no significant help on offer, India's spin troika of Ashwin (1/57), Jadeja (1/49) and Axar Patel weren't as effective compared to first three games.
Save Shami's lethal reverse swing to get Peter Handscombe castled, none of the other dismissals came off wicket-taking deliveries and could be attributed to lapse of concentration on part of batters.
It was a track where if one even got deceived in the air, the slowness off the surface ensured that playing on backfoot became second line of defence.
Run scoring wasn't easy but surviving and slowly building an innings wasn't difficult either as Khawaja showed.
Twice Australia lost back-to-back wickets but prior to that and after that, Khawaja remained a constant factor.
He had partnerships of 61 for the opening stand with Travis Head (32), 79 for the third wicket Steve Smith (38) and another 103 for the fifth wicket with Green, who counter-punched towards the end of the day.
The run-rate of 2.83 would show that scoring wasn't very easy, save the first hour when Head hit Umesh Yadav for a flurry of boundaries.
There is nothing in the track and Australia, if they apply themselves well, could post their best total of the series.
Head, in fact, must be feeling horrible as he undid all his good work in the first hour by playing an indiscreet shot. He tried to chip Ashwin over mid-on without reaching to the pitch of the delivery.
Ashwin had just altered the length slightly and deceived Head, who offered the easiest of catches to one of the world's best fielders, Jadeja.
Head got a reprieve while batting on seven when wicketkeeper KS Bharath dropped a regulation catch off Umesh Yadav's bowling. Yadav, who usually invites criticism for his inconsistency, was once again erratic as he gave a lot of boundary balls.
Out of the seven boundaries that Head got, half a dozen came from Yadav's overs.
The end from which Shami bowled, a lot of deliveries kept low and one such ball brought about the downfall of Marnus Labuschagne.
It was an off-cutter and Labuschagne wanted to play the square cut but dragged it back onto the stumps. But then Khawaja took over and made sure Australia had their best opening day of the series.
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Video of Telangana women helping wash Miss World contestants’ feet draws ire from BRS, BJP
Hyderabad, May 15 (PTI): A video showing some women helping wash the feet of Miss World contestants at Ramappa temple on Thursday sparked controversy with opposition BRS and BJP flaying the act, terming it an insult to Telangana women.
Responding to the criticism, the state government in a post on 'X' said "This is a tradition we follow in accordance with the dictum 'Atithi Devo Bhava' by which we offer our international guests the highest honour".
The contestants, dressed in sarees, visited the historical Ramappa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of their heritage tour in the state on Wednesday.
After they reached the site, some women were seen in the video pouring water on the feet of the contestants, who were seated in a row, to wash their feet. One woman was seen wiping the feet of a contestant with a towel and the video went viral.
The “appalling” incident, where local Dalit, tribal, and economically disadvantaged women were “forced to wash and wipe” the feet of foreign beauty pageant participants, has unleashed a wave of outrage across Telangana, striking a devastating blow to the state’s cherished self-respect, BRS said in a press release.
“Congress CM has officially lost his mind,” BRS Working President KT Rama Rao said, reposting the video in his 'X' handle.
Telangana BJP chief and Union minister G Kishan Reddy in a post on 'X' alleged that Congress party’s century-old legacy of making Indians kneel before foreigners to appease their high command is evident and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, in his desperate bid to impress Delhi bosses, has trampled on the dignity and self-respect of Indian women.
“The Congress national leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should tender an unconditional apology to Telangana women for blasphemy and for surrendering the dignity, culture and self-respect of our NariShakti,” he further said in the post.
Former Minister and BRS legislator Sabitha Indra Reddy in a post on 'X' described it as a grave insult to Telangana's daughters on the land that gave birth to heroic women like Rudramadevi, Sammakka, and Saralakka.
“The Congress government has stripped the honor of the daughters of the state. This incident has not only shamed Telangana but has also tarnished the dignity of Indian women before the world,” she hit out at the state government.
The Miss World grand finale is set to be held here on May 31. During their stay, the contestants — over 100 in number — have been touring several key tourist attractions across the state.
Dear Country!
— Revathi (@revathitweets) May 14, 2025
YES! This is happening in #Telangana
Women of Telangana are being made to wash the feet of contestants of MISS WORLD!
They are even patting them dry using towels!!
WTF is this Casteist, Colonial, Racist behavior! 🙏🏽#MissWorld2025 #RidiculousBehavior… pic.twitter.com/mTydS8UOvx
