Australian opener Usman Khawaja has announced his retirement from a 14-year international career, with the Sydney Test as his finale. The 39-year-old is celebrated for his grit, numerous comebacks, and stellar record, especially in Asia.
Australia's veteran opener Usman Khawaja called time on a decorated 14-year-career in international cricket on Friday, with the home Ashes Test at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) set to be his finale. Retiring at Sydney, where it all started, Khawaja is leaving behind a lot of memories, iconic knocks and inspiring tales of comeback, having made a habit out of bouncing back every time he was dropped from the team.
The 39-year-old is well known for being a resolute, gritty Test opener and for his outspoken nature on a variety of topics, including Australian cricket, his ethnicity, and world politics. The left-hander is leaving behind a legacy as one of Australia's finest opening batters, who excelled across a variety of conditions and later developed an impeccable technique against spin.
Ahead of his final Test, Khawaja stands as the 15th-highest run-getter for Australia with 6,206 runs in 87 Tests and 157 innings at an average of 43.39, with 16 centuries and 28 fifties and a best score of 232. He also ranks 19th among Australia's run-getters across three formats, with 8,001 runs in 136 matches at 42.33, including 18 centuries and 41 fifties, with a best score of 232.
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Here are some under-the-radar aspects of his batting as he awaits his 'One Last Dance' at Sydney:
A subcontinent titan
Pakistan-born Khawaja moved to Australia as a young kid and played most of his cricket, right from the age/club level in the Aussie land. Despite having experienced fast, pacey conditions in Australia, Khawaja has a strong record in the subcontinent, which a lot of greats from the past and present cannot boast of.
In 13 Tests played in Asian conditions across India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the UAE, Khawaja boasts of the best batting average in the region. In 13 Tests, he has scored 1,390 runs at an average of 82.77, including five centuries and six fifties and his best score of 232.
Khawaja has centuries in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India, batting as an opener, making him one of the finest negotiators of the new ball and the turn that spinners can extract in these conditions. With a total of five centuries in Asian conditions as an opener in just 22 innings, Khawaja is an all-time great when it comes to playing in the testing conditions of Asia. He goes toe-to-toe with a destructive Matthew Hayden, who scored 1,663 runs in 19 Asian Tests at an average of above 50, with four centuries and eight fifties as an opener in Asia. Even without the 'opening batter' filter, Khawaja has done spectacularly for his nation in Asia, scoring 1,607 runs in 18 Tests at an average of 61.8, with five centuries and six fifties.
Some of his standout performances include topping the run-charts during his side's 1-0 series win against Pakistan away from home, with 496 runs in three matches and five innings at an average of 165.33, with two centuries and two fifties. With Pakistan being historically dominant at home (be it in Pakistan or the UAE) against Australia, it was Khawaja's class, consistency and brilliance against the turning ball which helped Australia seal their first away-from-home series win against Pakistan since 2002/03, when they played them in Sri Lanka and the UAE. With the first two Tests ending in a draw, it was Khawaja's brilliant 91 and 104* at Lahore which helped set a tough 351 run target for Australia and Aussie bowlers, particularly spinner Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins did not let him down as they won by 115 runs to seal the series and Khawaja getting 'Player of the Series' honours for his excellence in tackling spinner Noman Ali, Sajid Khan and Faheem Ashraf. Nobody else from Australia crossed the 250-run mark in the series or hit a century in the series besides him, with Steve Smith (226 runs with three fifties in three Tests) being his distant rival.
He was also the top-scorer in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India in 2022/23, his only Test visit to cricket-crazy nation, with 333 runs in four matches at an average of 47.57, including a century and two fifties in seven innings, with a best score of 180. His 147-ball 60 in the low-scoring third Indore Test, which was a low-scoring affair, helped Australia take a decent first innings lead and keep the possibility of a draw alive, with the prospect of a series draw in India just as valuable as an Ashes draw in UK. Besides legendary Allan Border, Khawaja is the only Australian to have scored Test centuries in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Recently, last year, it was his 295 runs in three innings in Sri Lanka, including 232* in the first Galle Test, that helped the Aussies capture a series win in Sri Lanka after 14 years, having lost in 2016 by a whitewash and drawing 1-1 in 2022.
In the leagues of Hayden, Langer
Khawaja has often been overshadowed historically by big names like Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and David Warner, with Hayden and Warner having an excellent limited-overs run as well. As an opener, he has scored 3,412 runs at an average of 48.05 in 44 Tests, including eight centuries and 15 fifties in 80 innings. Amongst Australians to have scored 3,000 runs or more as an opener, he has the fourth-best batting average besides Bob Simpson (3,664 runs in 38 matches at an average of 55.51 with eight centuries), Hayden (8.625 runs in 103 Tests at an average of 50.73 with 30 centuries), and Langer (5,112 runs in 65 Tests at an average of 48.22 with 16 centuries). His better Asian record as compared to these batters, his role in breaking series-droughts in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, places him on a footing equal to, if not better than, these Aussie legends.
A man of comebacks
Khawaja witnessed himself being dropped at least seven times, as per cricket.com.au throughout his career, largely due to his inability to crack the two important codes in Australian cricket: The Asian code and The Ashes code in England. But this classy batter would simply wipe the dust off, go back to his grind as if his life was dependent on it and defied his critics.
Before his triumphant comeback to Asian conditions in 2018, Khawaja was earlier a walking wicket here, and runs came at a premium for him, scoring just 117 runs in five Tests and nine innings at an average of 14.62 and best score of 26. But starting from the UAE Tour against Pakistan, Khawaja took his Asian trajectory to a whole new high, where no Australian has reached, with 1,490 runs in 13 Tests and 22 innings at an average of 82.77, including five centuries, six fifties and a best score of 232. He also played in Australia's long-overdue series wins in Sri Lanka and Pakistan and even won them their first Test in six years against India.
Khawaja lived the same nightmare in English conditions, scoring 236 runs in six Tests in the UK from 2011-19 at an average of shade below 20 with just one half-century. The 2023 tour to England marked his redemption arc against Australia's biggest rivals away from home, top-scoring in the series with 496 runs in 10 innings across five Tests at an average of almost 50, with a century and three fifties. He had a crucial role to play in Australia getting a 2-0 lead in the series, with 141 and 65 at Birmingham and a brilliant 77 at Lord's. He celebrated his first Test ton in Australia pompously, tossing his bat in the air and letting out a roar which had relief written all over it as much as triumph.
A remarkable late career run for the ages
In his late 30s, when most batters wind down, decline in form and reflexes, and seek time away from the game, Khawaja had a run of cricket that cricket fans would remember forever. Making his comeback after a poor Ashes in 2019 in the UK, Khawaja seized the opportunity with open hands, scoring a massive 2,290 runs in 24 Tests between 2022-23 at an average of 58.72, including seven centuries and 11 fifties in 44 innings. This included delivering chart-topping performances in Pakistan, India and England, three massive places for Australian batters to tour and securing the ICC World Test Championship 2023 crown with the Aussies, beating India in the final. Despite missing out on the 2021 year of the WTC cycle, he was the second-highest run-getter overall and Australia's top scorer with 1,621 runs in 17 Tests and 30 innings at an average of 64.84, with six centuries and seven fifties and a best score of 195*.
A solid limited-overs batter
Usman's Test heroics outshone his white-ball numbers. In 40 ODIs for Australia, he made 1,554 runs at an average of 42.00, with a strike rate of over 84, two centuries and 12 fifties in 39 innings. Despite such solid numbers, he could cement a place in the Australian white-ball side. In nine T20Is, he also scored 241 runs at an average of 26.77, with a strike rate of over 132, including a fifty. He was a 2019 World Cup semifinalist, having made 316 runs in nine matches at an average of 35.11 with two fifties and a best score of 89. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
