Usman Khawaja century caps confident performance by Australia

Australia 255 for 4 (Khawaja 104*, Green 49*, Shami 2-65) vs IndiaAustralia managed only the fourth opening stand of 50 or more for a visiting side in India in the last five years. Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith batted through the middle session, the first wicketless session of the series, the most comfortable any batting side has been in a session against India in India in the last 10 years. Khawaja scored a fine, patient hundred, only the sixth against India in India in the last five years.Yet it was India who controlled which way the game headed for the most part after losing the toss on a flat pitch. Only to lose the gamble with the new ball at the end of the day and hand Australia a slight advantage. Khawaja ended unbeaten on 104 having brought up the milestone in the last over of the day, and Cameron Green feasted on the new ball to score 49 in 64 in an 85-run stand that started after the loss of two wickets for 19 runs.The Ahmedabad pitch was a complete contrast to the first three Tests. Bowlers had to work hard to maintain control, defend with the fields and attack the stumps. Sometimes the payoff stretched across spells like when Umesh Yadav bowled a spell full of bouncers, and Mohammed Shami took the wicket with a full ball in the next spell, his second. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja managed one each, and Axar Patel provided control in his 12 overs for just 14 runs.A measure of how difficult it was for the bowlers is that India managed to draw only 34 false responses; there were 40 in the first session of the last Test. Yet through most of the day, India made sure the batters had to take risks to even go past 2.5 an over. Knowing they could trust the pitch, Australia waited for the loose balls, which also showed in an unusually high control percentage. The six false responses in 33 overs in the middle session was the highest control percentage for a visiting side in India in a session of Test cricket in India in the last 10 years.This is where the quality of Ashwin and Shami, and the depth in the attack,