Usman Khawaja's ODI hundred in Delhi puts him in the same exclusive club as AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli

Australia’s top-order batsman, Usman Khawaja has been in the news all over since his hundred at Ranchi guided Australia to a victory after the tourists were trailing in this series by 2-0. Khawaja scored 104 off 113 in the 3rd ODI for which he was honoured with the Man of the Match award. In his first 22 ODI innings, the left-handed batsman had zero hundreds in the 50-overs format.

Following that, in the next ODI at Mohali, Khawaja scored a splendid 91 off 99 thus consolidating Australia’s chances early during the chase of a huge total of 359. Besides that, Peter Handscomb came up with a hundred and the lesser known Ashton Turner scored a stunning 43-ball 84 taking Australia to another victory and thus levelling the five-match series 2-2. Hence, converting the fifth ODI at Feroz Shah Kotla into a decider.

Batting first in the series decider, Australia made a solid start with Usman Khawaja hitting another brilliant ton, his second overall. It’s pretty hard to believe that before stepping into this ongoing limited-overs series in India, Khawaja had no ODI tons in his account. The left-hander now holds the record for the most number of runs scored against India in any five-match bilateral series, going past Kane Williamson‘s tally of 361 runs.

This current series between India and Australia is the penultimate venture for the tourists before the World Cup starts. Australia will play a five-match ODI series against Pakistan starting from March 22, in UAE. It is now certain that Australia will be considering Khawaja for a World Cup berth after three consecutive performances full of brilliance.

Khawaja in the same league as Kohli and de Villiers

104, 91 and today’s 100 are the latest scores of the Australian opener in One Day International Cricket. The numbers clearly suggest his expertise in limited-overs. In this process, Khawaja also entered an exclusive list of players who have scored three or more 90-plus scores on the trot in ODIs in India. The other players in the same list are AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli who have scored four consecutive ninety-plus scores in ODIs in India.

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