Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023

"It was a lot of emotion in that. I have been to India on two tours before this, and carried the drinks in all eight Test matches. It was a long journey, and to finally get a hundred in India, as an Australian, that's what you want to do, it's what you want to tick off, so it's very special," said Khawaja at the end of day's play to broadcasters.

"It's a very clear direction forward for me now to just work on it and improve. I harbour no ill will or ill feeling at all, I'm very well supported in that camp, and they've kept in constant communication with me so it's all in a good place," Agar was quoted by Cricket.com.au.

PM Modi presented a special cap to Rohit while Australian PM Albanese presented a special cap to Smith. The two leaders did a lap of honour around the Narendra Modi Stadium in a gold-painted chariot embellished with bat, wicket and ball to celebrate 75 years of cricketing contests between the two nations.

The session began with a returning Mohammed Shami being wayward and conceding eight byes, with Australia electing to bat first on a pitch which had some up-and-down bounce. India were almost given a breakthrough when Umesh Yadav drew the outside edge from Travis Head, but wicketkeeper K.S. Bharat dropped a sitter, adding more to his nightmarish start with gloves.

Bharat, who has filled in for Rishabh Pant after the latter's accident, has excelled behind the stumps, but has scored merely 57 runs at an average of 14.25 in the series. While Jharkhand's Ishan Kishan, who is also in the squad, might be considered a closer fit to Pant given his batting abilities, Rohit looked to back Bharat in the near future.

"Honestly, when you win two games if people outside feel that we are overconfident, it's absolutely rubbish. Because you want to do your best in all four games. You don't want to stop by winning just two games, it is as simple as that," Rohit said in the pre-match press conference.

India are leading the series 2-1 and need to win the fourth Test to secure a place in the WTC final while Australia would like to win the match to finish the series 2-2 and return home with a lot of pride. With so much at stake for both teams, the pitch for the fourth Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium here was under focus when India head coach Rahul Dravid came in for a pre-match press conference.

Murphy had Kohli superbly caught down the leg side by Alex Carey during a dream Test debut that netted the 22-year-old seven wickets in India's first innings and further impressive performances during the second and third Tests have only further confirmed that the right-arm belongs at the top level.

In the series, India won the first two Tests in Nagpur and New Delhi. But Australia came back in the third Test at Indore, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) rating the pitch "poor" where the tourists had won the match by nine wickets. I don't believe the hype I reckon because for all the attention around the pitches they were typically Indian wickets

Australia's convincing nine-wicket triumph over India in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Indore on Friday helped them book a place at this year's ICC World Test Championship Final. They have been a dominant side in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, having won 11 out of 18 contests.