Ahmedabad: It took Cameron Green just two innings to hit his maiden hundred on Indian soil. Only Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey are the recent Aussies who scored a hundred in their first innings in India. Hayden scored 119 in the Wankhede Test in 2001; Clarke, on debut, hit 151 in the 2004 Bengaluru Test and Hussey’s 146 came in the 2008 Bengaluru Test.
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Still early days in the whites but Green has ticked the crucial boxes and has added a hundred on Indian soil to his fifties in the away series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Not many overseas batters have made immediate impact in India. Even standing captain Steve Smith took five innings before reaching the three-figure mark in India and former Australia great Ricky Ponting got the opportunity to remove his helmet only in the 15th Test innings.
It’s a challenging place to bat in and the challenge multiplied when the hosts rolled out raging-turners for the first three Tests. Unlike his teammates, Green, who missed the first two fixtures with an injury, didn’t have many ghosts of the past to deal with as he had only one hit in the Indore Test. And he looked really solid in that morning session on Day 2 with Peter Handscomb.
Many were keeping a close eye on Green and how he would perform in these conditions as he lends a lot of balance to the side with both bat and ball. His inclusion allowed Smith to have five bowling options in both Indore and ongoing Ahmedabad Test. The strip at Motera was the flattest of the four we have seen in the series so far but run-scoring wasn’t an easy affair. India stuck to tight lines even when nothing was happening off the surface or in the air. But Green picked his moments, picked his bowlers and stuck to his strengths in a very fluent century.
Driving licence
Cameron Green scored nearly 70% of his runs towards the off side during the fourth India-Australia Test. Image: BCCI.TV
It is refreshing to see the cover drive as the most productive shot for a batter. In a series where sweeps, flicks and pushes to mid-on have done bulk of the scoring, Ahmedabad strip allowed the batters to operate in the conventional V.
56 of Green’s 114 came between covers and long-off and he collected as many as eight boundaries in the region. The cover-drive was the most productive shot as it earned him 37 runs with an astounding control percentage.
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