The opening batter of the Australian side, Usman Khawaja, will be vital for the team when they meet India in a five-match red-ball series towards the end of the year at home during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The current World Test Champions of the 2021-23 season hasn’t got the better of the Blue Brigade in the longest format for nearly a decade.
The left-handed opening batter of the side didn’t make a great start in his Test career but later showed great progress to cement his place in the opening position. During the Ashes 2023, Usman Khawaja was the highest run-getter with 496 runs in five games at an average of 49.60 and a strike rate of around 40, shouldering on three half-centuries and one century.
Being an opener the left-handed batter has faced so many quality bowlers in his career, whether it’s the pacers or the spinners, and some of them are of high standards.
Usman Khawaja names Ravichandran Ashwin as the coolest bowler
The 37-year-old has scored 5451 runs in 73 Test matches for the national side at an average of 45.80 and a strike rate of 48.29 with the help of 15 centuries and 26 half-centuries with the best score of unbeaten 195 runs. At that stage of his career, Usman Khawaja could be playing his last red-ball series against India.
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Regarding playing at home, the batter has smashed 2855 runs in 36 Tests at an average of 52.87 and a strike rate of nearly 50, shouldering on 13 half-centuries and nine centuries.
When asked to pick the coolest bowler he has faced in the longest format, Usman Khawaja decided to go with the veteran off-spinner of the Rohit Sharma-led side, Ravichandran Ashwin, who, according to the batter, is such a smart bowler and always comes up with various tactics in the game.
“Ravi is a very good bowler. He is very strategic. He always has a plan. He tries to figure it out and stay ahead of the game, which I respect. I respect his cricketing brain. It’s always cool to play against him, and I look forward to the challenge.” The Islamabad-born expressed during an interaction with ‘Star Sports.’
Ashwin is the third-highest wicket-taker of the Indian bowlers in Tests in Australia, under Anil Kumble, who is at the top with 49 scalps, and the former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev (51). Overall, the veteran Tamil Nadu-born has managed to grab 114 wickets against the opponents, including seven five-wicket hauls.
Usman Khawaja has an average record against the Indian team, as he has scored 544 runs in 17 innings at an average of 34 and a strike rate of under 40, with the help of three half-centuries and one century.
Being a left-handed batter, he always finds it tough to face the off-spinner. Against Ashwin, the batter has scored 99 runs in the longest format at an average of just 24.8 and a strike rate of 35, besides being dismissed on four occasions.
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Apart from Sri Lanka, against whom Usman Khawaja has an average of 33.09, India is the hardest opponent for the batter as apart from them, he has an average of over 40 against all the teams, against whom he has featured in more than one game.
The first of the five-match series begins on November 22 at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The second fixture will be a day-night contest in Adelaide before they move to the Gabba in Brisbane. The Boxing Day Test will be played in Melbourne, while the New Year’s Test will take place in Sydney.