Usman Khawaja again showed his ability to bat in Asian conditions, scoring his fourteenth Test century to be unbeaten on 104 as Australia went to stumps in a good position at 4-255.

Last year, in Pakistan, he was by far Australia’s top scorer hitting two centuries and a 97 and on this tour he’d already scored two half-centuries. Peter Handscomb is the only other player to pass fifty in Australia’s seven innings.In Ahmedabad on the opening day of the fourth and final Test he batted through a scorching hot day in his usual phlegmatic style to give Australia an ideal start as they try to level the series.

The match was always going to get off to an unusual start with much hype around the attendance of the Prime Ministers of India and Australia, Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese. The toss was slightly delayed as these other proceedings took place but Steve Smith duly won it and had no hesitation in announcing that Australia would be batting

For the first time in the series Australia named an unchanged line-up playing with the same side that won the previous Test in Indore including three spinners in their side.

The additional security had meant that the teams hadn’t been able to hold their customary warm ups on the outfield. Even the bowlers’ run ups could only be marked out once the dignitaries had taken to the stands.It could have been that these unusual pre-match events affected India or perhaps it was feeling some additional pressure playing in front of their PrIme Minister, but whatever the cause, they made a shambolic start.Mohammed Shami’s first over was wild. It started with a delivery so wide it was heading towards second slip and by the end of it Australia had ten runs on the board. It didn’t seem to be only Shami who was not on his game. The opening half hour was peppered by misfields, eleven extras were conceded in the first seventeen runs scored. The untidy defensive performance was capped when Travis Head chased a wide delivery from Umesh Yadav. He edged it straight to wicket-keeper Srikar Bharat who, somehow, spilled the simplest of chances. The Prime Ministers left soon afterwards and immediately the home team’s performance picked up.

Despite the improvement, the first breakthrough didn’t come until the sixteenth over and was largely thanks to a rash shot by Head. Australia had progressed with little difficulty to 61 when he tried to lift Ravi Ashwin over mid-on. He didn’t get enough on the ball and struck it into the hands of Ravi Jadeja to be dismissed for 32.

Unfortunately for Marnus Labuschagne, Shami immediately found his line at the start of his second spell. His second delivery came back in and Labuschagne, who’d only scored 3, hardly moved his feet with the ball finding the inside edge of the bat and cannoning into leg stump.

Australia went to lunch at 2-75 but it had been a session of two distinct parts. After Head fell only 14 more runs were scored in the remaining 14 overs before the break as India’s bowlers found their lines and lengths.

After the first session was shared, the second was always going to be intriguing and it turned into a game of patience. The breakneck speed of the previous three Tests that all finished inside three days was put to one side and the game started to take the form of a more traditional Test match day.

The well rolled pitch with more grass on it gave a much better balance between bat and ball. Khawaja and Steve Smith pushed the odd single and managed the occasional boundary to keep the scoreboard ticking over. No risks were being taken, no scampered singles, no reverse sweeps just conventional stroke play with the batters finding the gaps when the opportunities came. By tea they had taken their third wicket partnership to 77 and the score to 2-149 to make it an even better start than the one they had made before winning in Indore.

Immediately after the break however, there was a setback. Facing Jadeja for the first time after the interval Smith misread the line. He got an inside edge onto his pads with a further ricochet on to the stumps to be bowled for 38. His reaction and slow trudge back to the pavilion showed how disappointed he was, having speculated before the Test began that it could be his last in India.

India had clearly had some discussion during the tea break on the tactics to be used in the final session for when Yadav took hold of the ball at the other end he started a stint of short-pitched deliveries.

At first Peter Handscomb , the new batter, seemed to be disconcerted or, at least surprised by the approach but it didn’t take him long to settle, pulling consecutive deliveries from Yadav to the square leg boundary.

The short deliveries from Yadav though had made Handscomb take a stance further back in his crease and it may have been his undoing. When Shami took over his fourth ball was pitched well up and, after a little movement off the pitch, it tore the off stump out of the ground to see Handscomb depart for 17.

His dismissal brought Cameron Green to the crease and Australia probably had their two most graceful and calm looking batters playing in unison. Green soon took on the role of the aggressor, upping the tempo even more after the new ball was taken. At the other end it was becoming a question of whether or not Khawaja would complete his hundred before stumps or not.

In the end two balls decided it. Khawaja worked Jadeja’s last ball of the day in the penultimate over to mid-wicket and then, a flick off his leg to Shami’s first ball of the final over brought out the celebratory leap and fist pump.

He will start day two unbeaten on 104 and with Green one run away from a half-century the pair have already put on a more than useful 85 for the fifth wicket and placed Australia in a solid position.

More to come.