Kohli's drought-breaking ton puts India ahead

Australia's hopes of securing their best Test series result in India in nearly two decades were all but ripped away by Virat Kohli, whose drought-breaking century delighted the Ahmedabad crowd but looked to have consigned the final Test to a draw.

A stalemate and a 2-1 series result in favour of India appears the most probable outcome after Kohli enchanted his adoring fans who poured in after lunch to the enormous Narendra Modi Stadium to see him score his first Test hundred in more than three years.

The former captain batted for eight-and-a-half hours before being caught on the boundary for 186 not long before stumps, having led an Indian batting charge that gave them a 91-run first-innings advantage.

That was despite their regular No.5 Sheryas Iyer being unable to bat due to a back concern, with Ravindra Jadeja (28), KS Bharat (44) and Axar Patel (79) helping India post 9-571.

But the battered Australians had an injury concern of their own with Usman Khawaja unable to open the batting late in the day having hurt his left leg while attempting a boundary-line catch in the early afternoon and not returning to field.

Matthew Kuhnemann (0no) was sent out as a nightwatchman instead, getting dropped by Bharat in the penultimate over of the day off a R Ashwin carrom ball as Australia reached 0-3, trailing by 88, with Travis Head (3no) unbeaten at the other end.

The severity of the injury to Khawaja, whose first-innings 180 underpinned his side's tally of 480, remained unclear at the close of play. It was only termed as 'lower leg soreness' by a team spokesperson.

It now seems impossible for Australia to expect to get far enough in front to declare and then bowl India out in the time left in this match. After the hosts gave up their final four wickets for only 16 runs, their own hopes of victory looked to have diminished too, unless Australia crumble with the bat on Monday.

The lack of pitch deterioration is the major barrier to a result being achieved. The surface certainly held few demons for Kohli, whose 41-innings stretch without a Test hundred ended as he swanned to triple figures with little fuss over how quickly he got there.

The 34-year-old faced 364 deliveries, three off being his longest ever Test knock. It was his first ton since November 2019 and his 28th overall in Tests.

On a punishing day in the field, Australia's bowlers tried leg-side-heavy fields, off-side-heavy fields, pace, spin, over and around the wicket. Nothing troubled Kohli.

Nathan Lyon (3-151) and Todd Murphy (3-113) bowled 110 overs between them, with Lyon's tally of 65 the most he has ever bowled in a Test innings. Cameron Green’s 18 overs were also the most he has bowled in a Test innings.

Despite 1,205 days elapsing since it had last occurred, there had been a sense of inevitability to Kohli scoring his hundred at the day's outset.

Fans wearing replica blue India jerseys with 'Virat' emblazoned on the back appeared from everywhere as fans clamoured to witness the milestone, which Kohli painstakingly inched closer towards during an opening session in which he did not score a single boundary.

He finally got there with a flick off his pads off Murphy after lunch, kissing the wedding ring on a necklace concealed underneath his shirt, as he soaked up a lengthy ovation.

Captain Steve Smith put his faith in his two off-spinners to do much of the bowling on day four. Lyon and Murphy proved Australia's two most economical bowlers, while also taking six of the nine wickets fall.

Murphy expertly deceived Ravindra Jadeja into miscuing one to mid-on, before then conceding just six from his next six overs in the opening session. Three of them were maidens, two to Kohli and one with two just fielders on the off-side – a sign of the young off-spinner's control beyond his years.

While Kohli has happy to play the long game, Bharat was compelled to get a move on as he took 21 off one Green over, including a pair of pulled sixes over the babble of leg-side fielders set in place for the short-ball trap.

The floodgates opened somewhat for Kohli after he had reached his 75th international century. It had taken him 250 balls to score his first five boundaries, but he then hit his next five in 19 balls as the Aussie attack tired.

Axar Patel took full advantage, lifting the visiting spinners for four sixes including three off Kuhnemann (1-94 from 25) in the final session.

But India's tail folded swiftly. A direct-hit from the boundary from Peter Handscomb saw Umesh Yadav run-out for a diamond duck. The Victorian's subsequent drop off Kohli (on 185) cost little as Murphy, for the fourth time in the series, dismissed Kohli in the final hour of play.