Usman Khawaja Feels Confident Of An Ashes Return

Sep 21, 2017 at 1:29 PM

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Usman Khawaja Feels Confident Of An Ashes Return

Usman Khawaja, in his Test career spanning 24 Tests, has been dropped from the side on a handful of occasions. Ironically, these snubs have been regular; the left-hander no longer feels insecure about it, he admitted recently.

Khawaja states that being dropped is “never easy, ” but it won’t let it affect his preparation to make a comeback in future, especially ahead of the Ashes 2017.

Khawaja’s most recent failure that prompted the selectors to overlook him came during the two-Test series against Bangladesh in Bangladesh. The call-up for the tour came after an 8-month gap, but the joy of representing Australia against lasted only for a Test. He performed poorly against the hosts on turning tracks and could manage just 1 run each both the innings which led to ouster from the second Test.

After returning to Australia, Khawaja has been entrusted with the responsibility of leading Queensland Bulls for next Friday’s JLT Cup opener against Cricket Australia XI at Allan Border Field.

Speaking about his current form, he is fresh off a big hundred in Brisbane club cricket. Rising in confidence from this knock, Khwaja asserted that he is in a good frame of mind for the domestic season.

“It’s definitely given me plenty of experience of being dropped. That stuff doesn’t motivate me and it’s not really (a chip on my shoulder),” he said on Thursday.

“In for one game in Bangladesh and a couple in Sri Lanka then going out again; it’s not ideal, never easy and never fun. The games I have missed out on have been the highest run-scoring games, which has been disappointing sitting on the sidelines, but that’s just how it is.”

Khawaja scored 162 and 79 on the weekend for Brisbane club Valley to show he had not suffered despite his lack of time at the crease.

“I felt pretty good on the weekend and I’ve never been the kind of guy that needs to hit a lot of balls,” he said.

“I feel like I can go in and out of cricket, keep things pretty simple and not feel like I’m ever out of touch or form whether I’m scoring runs or not.”

Next week, Khawaja will lead a Queensland side which includes Test opener Matt Renshaw, leg-spinner Mitch Swepson and Sam Heazlett and Billy Stanlake. The side definitely will have the pressure of doing well.

“I’m not going out there in the one-day cup to strengthen my chances for Test cricket or anything else,” Khawaja said.

“My focus is in on trying to win this tournament.”

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