Australia opener Usman Khawaja who was struggling to score runs in Test cricket got his mojo back with bat on Day 1 of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, January 29 at Galle International Stadium, Galle. The opening star reached his 16th Test century during the second session of the day, ending his 19-month-long drought for a triple-figure score. He scored his last hundred during the first Test of the Ashes 2023 at Edgbaston.
Khawaja finally reached his hundred off 135 balls as he flicked Fernando for a boundary towards fine leg. Steve Smith also brought up his fifty off just 57 balls. Smith and Khawaja got involved in an unbeaten 126-run stand for the third wicket as Australia went into tea on 261/2 with Khawaja (119*) and Smith (64*) well-set at the crease.
After smashing his century, he becomes the sixth Australian opener to score a century in Sri Lanka. Khawaja defensively started his inning scoring just three runs of the first 15 balls and his innings going with a boundary against Asitha Fernando in the fifth over of the innings.
This was Khawaja's first century against Sri Lanka, leaving out only South Africa and Bangladesh as the countries he has never scored a century in. Moreover, Usman Khawaja now has more away Test tons than former opener partner David Warner.
In the process, Khawaja also scored 3000 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, he became the sixth batter to do so. Khawaja is the fourth Australian to cross the 3000-run mark in WTC as Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head have already crossed the mark before.