Usman Khawaja Reveals Secret Behind India Success
Sep 3, 2018 at 9:18 PM
A crunch 127 by Usman Khawaja on day one of Australia A’s first-class match against India A in Bengaluru shut down all talks of the batters inability to perform in the subcontinent. It was his maiden first-class ton in India. The left-hander was part of the IPL and he has spent a good amount of time in India.
“I’ve been here a lot,” Khawaja said after play. “I haven’t played Tests, but I’ve played a few tour games, played in the nets, in the IPL. It’s always rewarding when you do well in different conditions. Once you get in, it’s actually a nice wicket. The outfield’s lightning. But I think as the game gets on, it’ll get tougher and tougher. But it’s always nice to get runs on the subcontinent because it’s never easy.” he added.
Khawaja turns the tide against spin
The batter used his feet well against spinners and played the sweep fine. Indian ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav was a part of the India A XI, and even he failed to scalp Khawaja’s stick. He was finally removed by pacer Mohammad Siraj. The Indian pacer went on to bag eight wickets in the innings to partially spoil Khawaja’s party.
Khawaja also said that while he was in England, he batted on spin-friendly wickets in county cricket. The southpaw said he was comfortable batting and that it helped him borrow a positive mindset. “I had a few wickets in England that were quite spin friendly when I was over there for county cricket, and it felt really comfortable over there, just giving myself options to score and having a positive mindset.” he explained. With Australia set to play a 2-match Test series in UAE, Khawaja’s fresh guard could well help him seal a birth and prove himself against spin at the international level.