India vs Australia | Always nice to beat India at their home, expresses Usman Khawaja
BCCI
After his match-winning century in the third ODI, Usman Khawaja has said that it is always nice to win against India and that too on India’s turf. The Aussie left-hander has also recalled that he had a good time in India earlier as well when he represented Australia A team against India A.
After being invited to bat first, the Australians had got off to a great start as the openers Aaron Finch and Khawaja had put together a big opening-wicket stand worth 193 runs. This partnership laid a proper foundation for the middle-order to take the Australians to a big score against the Indian batting line-up which is known for successful chases in the ODIs. Â
Khawaja played a major role in Australia’s batting on Friday as he scored 104 off 113 balls which included 11 fours and one hit over the ropes. He also got to his maiden ODI hundred and bagged the Man of the Match award for his impressive knock.Â
"Any win you are very happy. That’s why we play the game. We love competing and winning against a very good Indian side. It's always nice to do that -especially on their turf. We lost the first two and won the third one. We are still in the series and feeling is good," Khawaja told the media after the Ranchi ODI, reported PTI.
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The 32-year-old left-hander had played in the Indian conditions before and recalled some of his performances for the Australia A side that he put up in India. Khawaja had also managed to hit a century during one such tour with the Australia A team in India last year. Â
“I’ve scored a lot of runs here for Australia A in one-day (List A) cricket. I went over to Chennai a few years ago and I was the leading run-scorer for Australia A there. Then I scored a hundred here six months back in another Australia A series. So I have performed well here before,” explained Khawaja.
When he was asked about having a particular set of plans against the Indian bowlers in Ranchi, Khawaja replied, “There was no set plan. It was just the feeling out in the middle. Instincts. When a bowler comes on - you feel like he can take him. When Kuldeep came on, I knew he (Finch) was hitting to the short side with the spin. When he took him on that first over, it was obvious he could clear the rope pretty easily with that short boundary.”
"So as soon as I got any strike, I was just trying to get a single and give him as much strike as possible. That's just a partnership - it's how you work as batsmen, you sort of understand what the other guy is trying to do."
