Australia and South Africa are facing off in the third Test that kicked off on January 4, Wednesday and on Thursday, it was the likes of Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja who stood up for the Baggy Greens with their centuries. While the right-handed batter contributed 104 runs before making his way back to the dressing room, Khawaja, on the other hand, remained unbeaten at 195 when the match was interrupted at Session 3.
To add more, Marnus Labuschagne, the talismanic batter, perished after contributing valuable 79 runs and Travis Head, on the other hand, scored a quick-fire 70 and helped the Baggy Greens inch past the 400-run landmark. The mighty Australians were reeling at 475/4 when the rain interrupted, with Khawaja awaiting the 200-run landmark feat, unbeaten.
Could South Africa clinch a win for pride against Australia?
As things stand, it remains to be seen if the Proteas could clinch a win against Australia given that they have already lost the series. On the other hand, Australians would look to clinch a whitewash and cement their place in the summit clash of the Test championship finals which will be played later this year.
Smith, on the other hand, went past Sir Don Bradman’s record of 29 Test centuries, when he scored his 30th Test century on Thursday, eventually proving his prowess yet again. The batter went through a slump phase coming into the series and found his form back, crushing the Proteas in the third Test.
“South Africa are the one team that have bowled pretty well to me in the past, my record’s probably not as good against them as some of the others,” Smith was quoted as saying prior to the start of the series and one has to agree that it is only going to be an upward journey for the batter who is enjoying a prolific run.
With 2 days already losing too many hours due to rain and bad light interruption, the chances of the match ending in a draw are pretty high and Proteas failing to win a Test in the series could mean that India are inching closer to facing off against Australia in the finals of the Test championship.
As things stand, let us take a look at a few Twitter reactions to Usman Khawaja’s innings on Day 2:
Pink Test Centuries ?? Usman Khawaja
The People's Champ Uzzie ????
2021 and 2022. Levels #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/x2nk4knkyl
— Bagher Baccha ?? (@BagherBaicha) January 5, 2023
Usman Khawaja test cricket of the year and probably one of the best come back stories in cricket.
— Buttony tashinga (@ButtonyTashinga) January 5, 2023
Uzzie (Usman Khawaja) deserves his first double century today due to his consistent good performances.Will he celebrate his maiden double ton today! I hope he will.#AUSvsSA #AUSvRSA #Australia #Sydney #testcricket #WTC23 pic.twitter.com/dI39nh1cVl
— Usman Shaikh (@shaikhmohdusman) January 5, 2023
Usman Khawaja Batting on 195 runs. #AUSvsSA
— Gurdeep Singh (@flaming_deep) January 5, 2023
Usman Khawaja is now 195 N.O. proceeding towards a double hundred. Why is he not world class. @wwasay bhai aur @Rizzvi73 bhai ispe roshni daale apni program mein plz
— Syed Rahman (@SyedRah04826236) January 5, 2023
Usman Khawaja in test from 2022 ?????#khawaja #AUSvsSA
— ??????????? ? (@parthii03) January 5, 2023
Usman Khawaja >>Rohit Sharma
Test cricket #AUSvsSA #aussie— Riya_ Panchal_9933 ?? (@Riya993311) January 5, 2023
