'100 kay itne mauke aate nahi': Sunil Gavaskar abruptly stops live interview to share key 'century' advice with Axar

Axar Patel didn't notch up a single ton in the series but helped India take control with his instrumental approach with the bat.

Day 4 of the fourth and final Test between India and Australia in Ahmedabad clearly belonged to Virat Kohli, who went on to notch up his 75th international ton. Leading India's charge from the overnight total of 289/3, Kohli played a marathon knock of 186 off 364 balls as India piled a staggering 571 all-out in response to Australia's first innings total of 480/10.

Sunil Gavaskar and Axar Patel

Apart from Kohli, young opener batter Shubman Gill also scored a ton from the Indian camp. Gill scored 128 off 235 deliveries, which featured 12 fours and a ton. Axar Patel, who has been instrumental with the bat in the series, also continued his rich form and chipped in with a pivotal 79 off 113 balls, before getting cleaned up by Mitchell Starc.

During his stay in the middle, Axar also stitched 162 runs with Kohli for the sixth wicket. Following his dismissal India lost wickets in a flurry and with Shreyas Iyer not available due to medical reasons, the Indian innings folded with Kohli being the final batter to be dismissed.

After the close of play, Axar was invited by the broadcasters to talk about his experience outside and shed some light on his brilliant partnership with Kohli, where he was also joined by former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar and batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar. It was then Gavaskar took Axar by surprise as he politely interrupted the host and shared some priceless advice with the all-rounder.

“Agli baar century miss mat karyega. Kyunki 100 kay itne mauke aate nahi jaldi, toh jab aata hain toh chodiye mat. (Next time don't miss out on the century. There are very few times when you reach close to a ton and when you do grab the opportunity),” said Gavaskar after congratulating him.

“Thank you sir,” responded Axar, who was surprised by Gavaskar's unexpected gesture. Axar didn't notch up a single ton in the series but helped India take control with his instrumental approach with the bat. He is in fact the second-highest run-getter from the Indian camp, accumulating 264 runs from five innings. He had scored 84 in the series opener at Nagpur and managed 79 and 74 in the following two matches.

Meanwhile, the fourth and final Test between India and Australia in Ahmedabad is most likely to end in a draw with only one day remaining in the contest. Australia, who have just begun their second innings, were batting at 3/0 when umpires called for Stumps on the penultimate day. Opener Travis Head along with nightwatchman Matthew Kuhnemann will resume the proceedings on Monday (Day 5).

Standing against them is a decorated Indian attack, who surely will look to give Australians a run for their money as the hosts have a lead of 88 runs. In fact, spinner R Ashwin almost inflicted the first blow on Australia but was denied by teammate KS Bharat, who failed to hold on to a regulation catch towards the end of play.