Usman Khawaja’s emotions overflowed as he achieved his 14th Test century during the fourth and final Test against India at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday, March 9. He became the first Australian opener to score a century on Indian soil since Shane Watson accomplished the feat in 2010.
Khawaja, an Islamabad native, had previously been sidelined on his tours of India, but this time he was determined from the outset after Australia won the toss and elected to bat under favourable conditions.
Khawaja’s unbeaten 104 runs off 251 balls, including 15 fours, was a testament to his focus and determination to score a century. After the end of the first day’s play, he credited his success to ignoring his ego and concentrating on the task at hand.
“It was a lot of emotion in that [century]. I have been to India on two tours before this, and carried the drinks in eight Test matches,” Khawaja was quoted as saying to the official broadcasters.
“It was such a nice wicket; I just didn’t want to give my wicket away. It was a mental battle more than anything. You need to put your ego away. I’ve got no superstitions… just run through, stretch,” he added.
Despite losing two early wickets in the final session, Australia ended Day 1 at 255/four, thanks to Khawaja and Cameron Green’s 85-run fourth-wicket partnership in 19.2 overs. The hosts could not separate Khawaja and Green, even after taking the second new ball.
In the meantime, Usman’s wife, Rachel Khawaja, has come up with an epic response to her husband’s statement.
Taking to her Instagram handle, she wrote: “All of those water boy duties prepared you for this moment @usman_khawajy.”
She added: “I’m so proud of you! So well deserved after all you have been through 100.”
Before getting married to Usman, Rachel converted to Islam. That was in 2017, a year before their on-paper marriage. In 2017, Rachel performed a special Islamic marriage ceremony called Nikaah.
