With 6055 runs in 85 Tests at an average of 43.56, Usman Khawaja remains one of the best openers to have played for Australia. With a double hundred in Sri Lanka this year, Khawaja has scored 463 runs this year before he missed the second Ashes Test at Brisbane. Due to back spasms With the 38-year-old opener now being named in the Australian squad for the third Test at Adelaide starting Wednesday, Khawaja is expected to play in the 86th Test of his career. With some talks happening about his retirement amid his average since 2023 Ashes being 31.84, Khawaja has shared how the talks don’t faze him and how he could have retired two years ago but is still valued by the Australian team.
“It doesn’t really faze me. As much as people sometimes want to have a crack at me, I love playing for Australia, I’m still very committed, still every game I take the same way as I took 10 years ago – train hard, do everything right. For me, it’s irrelevant and more about being a professional. People can have opinions, absolutely no worries to me, but I can’t really sit down and worry about what other people think – especially outside of the squad and the people I care about. I could’ve retired two years ago, I could’ve retired at any time. But (I’m) still valued by the team, still asked to be here to play, so I’m here,” Khawaja told reporters on Saturday.
The 38-year-old opener had missed the second Ashes Test at Brisbane after suffering back spasms during the Perth Test. Khawaja had been batting in the nets two days prior to the second Test and had also faced the issue during the opening Test, where he batted at the number four spot. Travis Head and Jake Weatherald opened the innings for Australia at Brisbane and Khawaja talked about the long flight to Perth played a role in his back spasms and how he was hitting the ball well in the nests prior to the Brisbane Test with his back still hurting. “I’ve never enjoyed doing stuff on the day of flights anyway,” Khawaja said. “I’ll probably be a bit more cautionary about that now because I think that was half the reason why what happened happened in Perth – a long flight. We had a six-hour flight and there was a bit of a delay that didn’t help. I did feel sore after it, so I’ll always be mindful of flights.“I smacked them in the nets (in Brisbane), I was crunching them, even Beau (Webster) next to me was (saying), ‘Geez, you’re hitting them good’ and I was like yeah, but my back was sore. It was still two days out and my back was still very stiff, and it was just too hard – I didn’t want to start a game, the risk was too high. With the selectors, we sat down and had a chat afterwards, and it was still hurting. If it was the second-last game or the last game we potentially could have pushed it, but it probably just wasn’t worth it in the second game and I didn’t want to leave the guys hanging again. So we thought the best thing for the team was to stay out and make sure it was 100 percent right, not going into another game with a little niggle,” said Khawaja.
Post the Perth Test, Khawaja had termed the Perth pitch as a piece of ‘shit’ in a speech during a fundraising lunch for the Usman Khawaja Foundation. The test, which Australia won by eight wickets, was the shortest in Australia in 93 years and second shortest of all time in the country with just 847 balls bowled in the match. “Nineteen wickets on the first day and about 20 people got hit. That’s a great wicket, that seems real fair. The same thing happened last year in the India Test. It’s just that day-one wicket, the ball just does not react. Steve Smith’s by far the best cricketer I’ve ever played with and he’s missing the middle of his bat by a long way. He does not miss the middle of his bat, (yet) he’s getting hit in the elbow. So day-one wicket at Perth is a piece of shit, I’m happy to say that. Has been last year, it was this year.” Khawaja had said in the speech.
ICC had rated the highest possible rating of ‘very good’ to Perth pitch and Cricket Australia had asked Khawaja about his comments, as reported by Australian media. When asked about the issue, Khawaja shared how he had. Talk with Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg and the matter has been sorted. “The wicket one was not really a big issue for me. I talked to Todd (Greenberg) about it, like adults, and it was all sorted. I think it was more of an issue for the media and everyone else, if I’m being truly honest, but it’s all resolved, no issues. Certain things probably do (affect me), certain things probably don’t. I get told more from the vibes of what other people have read. It’s not like I go out reading things, it’s the vibe. Then sometimes things just pop up and you can’t hide from it, absolutely. Certain things do and don’t (affect me), but I don’t see the relevance in talking about it,” Khawaja said.