India vs Australia: Ian Chappell questions hosts strategy against Usman Khawaja on day one of 3rd Test

With
the
pitch
not
favouring
the
bowlers
much
like
in
the
first
three
Tests,
Indian
bowlers
toiled
hard
and
got
the
breakthrough
just
before
lunch
on

day
1
of
the
final
Test
of
the
Border
Gavaskar
Trophy
2023.

Opener
Travis
Head
departed
after
he
tried
to
be
aggressive
against
Ravichandran
Ashwin,
while
Marnus
Labuschagne
played
one
off
Mohammed
Shami
on
to
the
stumps.

But
Khawaja
and
Steve
Smith
resisted
the
Indian
bowling
till
tea
before
the
latter
chopped
one
off
Ravindra
Jadeja
just
after
tea,
and
Shami
bowled
a
beauty
to
get
rid
of
Peter
Handscomb
early.

Although
India
were
able
to
take
four
wickets
in
the
first
innings
of
the
game,
Khawaja
played
a
gritty
knock
to
slam
his
14th
Test
hundred
as
he
went
on
to
share
an
unbeaten
stand
of
85
with
Cameron
Green
at
stumps.

While
Shami
was
the
only
Indian
bowler
with
two
wickets,
the
spinners
were
unable
to
trouble
the
Australia
batters.
The
Indian
bowlers
prefferred
bowling
from
round
the
wicket
to
Khawaja,
allowing
him
to
play
to
his
strength
on
the
onside.

Usman
Khawaja
hits
first
hundred
vs
India,
adds
another
episode
to
his
glorious
comeback
saga

Former
Australian
captain
praised
Khawaja’s
calmness,
but
said
the
Indian
bowlers
got
their
strategy
completely
wrong
against
the
Australian
opener
and
that
may
hurt
them
in
the
crucial
Test
match.

“I
think
the
calmness
of
Khawaja
has
been
exemplary
in
this
series.
One
thing
I
can’t
understand
is
India’s
desire
to
come
around
the
wicket
at
all
times
to
a
left-hander.
It
just
doesn’t
make
any
sense
to
me,”
Chappell
said
during
his
analysis
to
CricInfo.

“All
the
good
left-handers
I
have
spoken
to
have
said
the
right
arm
over
the
wicket
is
the
toughest
line
to
face.
Ok,
now
for
every
now
then
for
a
change
you
can
bowl
around
the
wicket.
It
works
well
in
England
but
in
India,
it
is
ridiculous.

“Particularly
to
a
player
like
Khawaja,
whose
great
strength
is
his
on-side.
We
saw
that
today.
Why
would
you
angle
the
ball
into
his
pads,
when
that’s
exactly
what
he
wants.”

“The
other
thing
about
Khawaja
is,
he
looked
at
ease
at
all
times.
India
to
me,
haven’t
come
up
with
a
solution
to
Khawaja’s
batting
and
it
is
really
starting
to
hurt
them,”
the
Australia
legend
added.