The Motera pitch, as Steve Smith had predicted, turned out to be a flat one, offering little assistance to bowlers on Day I of the fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad. The stand-in Australia captain, however, could not make full use of it as he fell to a soft dismissal once again. But despite that, Australia had all the reasons to be pleased with how the opening day transpired.

For that, a huge amount of credit has to go to Usman Khawaja (104 batting). The left-handed opener not just registered his maiden Test hundred on Indian soil, but also ensured Australia were firmly placed at 255/4 at stumps on Thursday.

The presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on the ground didn’t seem to cause any kind of distraction to the Australians at least.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, Travis Head (32) and Khawaja took them to 61 without loss at almost four an over.

Overall though, despite the flat pitch, India kept it tight for most of the first 80 overs and were looking to trigger another collapse when Australia lost Smith (38) and Peter Handscomb (17) within a space of 19 runs in the day’s final session. From 151/2, the visitors were 170/4 all of a sudden.

But Khawaja remained stoic at one end, getting behind the line of every ball and not putting a foot wrong. He found an able ally in young all-rounder Cameron Green (49 batting) and the duo stitched an unbeaten 85 off just 116 balls, leaving India with some work to do going into Day II.

Whether skipper Rohit Sharma made the right call in taking the new ball after the 81st over is debatable. Against the old ball, Khawaja and Green were forced to be watchful. But once the new ball was taken, the duo hit a flurry of boundaries to score 54 off the last nine overs of the day.

Green, in particular, could fancy playing his shots which made matters easier for Khawaja, who reached three figures with a flick for four off Mohammed Shami.

Although Shami (returning in Mohammed Siraj’s place) once came close to dismissing Green with a shortpitched delivery towards the close of play, he too erred with the new ball to concede a few easy runs.

As for India’s spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel were largely disciplined. Ravichandran Ashwin, dismissing the aggressive Head earlier in the first session, wasn’t expensive, but he over-bowled the under-cutter (one that goes the other way) to Khawaja, becoming a tad predictable.