Khawaja reflects on brilliant return

USMAN Khawaja is once again flourishing at the top of the order for the Australian Test team.

After a lengthy hiatus away from the XI, the 35-year-old made a successful return to the side in the fourth Ashes Test at the SCG in January of this year.

Posting scores of 137 and 101 not out in both innings, Khawaja was then selected for the Australian tour of Pakistan.

In the Pakistan tour, the left-hander was the highest run-scorer in the series with a total of 496 runs which earned him the player of the series award.

When initially dropped from the Test team in 2019, Khawaja says he wasn’t deterred by the decision.

“I’ve been enjoying my cricket for a while, even since I last got dropped from the Australian cricket team I went back and played for Queensland and I was really enjoying that time,” Khawaja told SEN Test Cricket.

“To be back here has been fun, I’ve been able to score a few runs but we’ve been playing some really good cricket too and winning lots of games which always helps.”

Khawaja, who kicked off his summer of cricket on last week after making a gritty 65 runs, said the West Indies’ bowling attack was disciplined in the opening sessions.

Both he and fellow Queenslander Marnus Labuschagne had to be patient as the Windies bowlers remained assertive.

“It sucks for the batsman [getting clogged down] because you want to score runs and you want to do it freely but sometimes you have to put your pride and ego out of the way,” he said.

“Me and Marnus pretty much did that for the whole first session, it got a little bit easier in the second session but they still [the West Indies] bowled relatively well and then obviously I missed out in that last session but Marnus did [play] and he certainly cashed in.

“You could almost say he is due the way Marnus plays, he is a terrific player who you know is going to score runs at some stage so it was great to see.

“He batted beautifully yesterday and it’s nice to see a smile on his face because he deserves it because he works extremely hard.”

Labuschagne brought up his second double century shortly before lunch on Day 2.

Another player who was able to reap the rewards of Khawaja and Labuschagne’s early resistance was Steve Smith, who was able to cruise to 50 runs from only 75 balls.

Khawaja said that he thinks the former Test captain may just be in for yet another big summer.

“Even before the start of the match you could just tell that he was comfortable with how he was batting, I don’t what happens in the mind of Steve Smith but he is the best Test cricketer I’ve played with,” he added.

“He looked really comfortable before coming out in this game, when you see that in Steve Smith then you almost know that he is going to score runs.

“I can’t say that for many players because this game is bloody tough but when Smithy is feeling good before a game you can almost lock him in.”

Smith knocked a century late in the first session of play on day two.

After this two-match series against the West Indies, the Australians will then host South Africa before heading to India to play in the sub-continent, with a potential World Test Championship next year along with an Ashes series.

In what will be one of the biggest years of Australian cricket, with Khawaja stating that he is embracing what is to come in the future.

“Personally I don’t look too far ahead because it is always one innings after the next but at the same time I’d be lying if we didn’t all as a team have one eye on the bigger picture,” he said.

“If we can do well this summer, play well in India, get to the World Test Championship which is massive and then there’s a massive Ashes series coming up too which I know a lot of the boys still have the hunger to win that.”

– BY KOBE JACOBS/ SEN