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Day 4 of the ongoing Test between India and Australia belonged to Virat Kohli as the star batter took his time to score his 28th Test century, and his 75th international one, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 12. India finished on 571/9. With the injury to Shreyas Iyer, the Baggy Greens were given a lead of 91 runs. Meanwhile, the visitors sprung a surprise when opener Travis Head accompanied by night watchman Matthew Kuhnemann was sent to open the batting!
The duo went on to score 3 for no loss in six overs for their side at Stumps.
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The Australian bowlers were unable to temper the flow of Kohli's batting as he carried on his run-scoring on Day 4. Jadeja was caught by Khawaja off Todd Murphy's bowling, scoring 28 runs for his side. The KS Bharat entered the fray and looked strong alongside Kohli, finding the boundary at regular intervals.
However, after scoring 44 runs, the wicketkeeper also fell to Nathan Lyon's bowling, hitting 2 fours and 3 sixes during an innings of 88 balls.
The fall of wickets did not deter Kohli, who went on to complete his 28th century in Tests and his 75th in international cricket, 1204 days after doing so back in November 2019 against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata. This was his third century in 2023 after his two ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka earlier in the year, and his imperious form earned praise from near and far.
Axar Patel joins the show
While Kohli scored crucial runs, Axar Patel also chipped in with yet another important innings. He scored 79 runs off 113 balls, with 5 fours and 4 sixes to his name. He took the game to the opponents while Kohli played the anchor role, notching his 150 as well.
It was an important innings played by the all-rounders as he ensured that for the first time in Test cricket that a team had 50+ run partnerships for the first five wickets against Australia. This was a testament to how well the Indian side played the bowlers, but riding on his luck too much, Axar was bowled by Mitchell Starc to give them their fifth wicket.
Axar was the last of the recognised batters to shine for India, sans Kohli. Ravichandran Ashwin scored seven off 12 but was dismissed by Lyon after a rash shot and fell straight to Kuhnemann.
Umesh Yadav was sent back for a diamond duck after he was run out while attempting to take a second run on the advice of Kohli. Eventually, Kohli was unable to reach his 200 after being dismissed for 186 runs off 364 balls.
Surprise move by Australia!
With a 91-run lead handed to Australia, the management took a surprise decision by sending out spinner Kuhnemann as the night watchman for the Baggy Greens. He partnered Travis Head at the top, as the visitors were restricted to just three runs in the six overs that Australia faced. They also did not lose a single wicket.
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