Birthday special: Usman Khawaja – The mercurial batsman still seeking consistency

The first Pakistan-born cricketer to play for Australia, Usman Khawaja, has always been in and out of the national team. Born on 18th December 1986, Khawaja made his first-class debut back in 2008 for New South Wales and marked his debut international outing in the year 2011 against England. He has been an active part of county cricket for teams like Derbyshire, Glamorgan, and Lancashire. He was once part of the Indian Premier League in the 2016 season with now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant.

Turbulent career

Khawaja was out of the international arena due to a breach of discipline protocols, for some part of his career. He marked his return during the 2nd Test of the 2013 Ashes series. In his first Test match, which came after two years, he hit his maiden ton. Since his return in the longest format of the game, he has smashed four centuries in six matches, but still, his place remains in question all the time.

During the 2015-16 season, Khawaja was in brilliant form with many cricket experts hailing him for all his class. He went down with an injury in 2013 and could only return to action in 2015. He set the record of becoming the first batsman to hit a century in a single inning of a Day-Night Test on home soil. He still has the record of 2nd highest individual score in Day-Night Test innings to his credit.

Usman Khawaja’s 141 was the second highest score by an Australian batsman in the UAE – the biggest fourth innings score by any batsman in the country! #PAKvAUS #howzstat pic.twitter.com/XODtQSoRsk

— ICC (@ICC) October 11, 2018

Finally, in the year 2018, he was awarded a national contract by Cricket Australia. In April 2019, he was picked in the 2019 World Cup squad for Australia, but he was ruled out of the tournament due to a hamstring injury he suffered in a group stage match. In July 2019, he got picked in Australia’s squad for the Ashes series and couldn’t just impress with his bat. He was dropped from the squad as soon as Steve Smith returned.

In July 2020, something similar happened as he was named in a 26-man squad from his team’s end that would face England. However, the tour got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later, he was not included in the final squad. He has been part of the team in 44 Tests and 40 ODIs with 2887 and 1554 runs to his credit. In his international career spanning over nine years, he is yet to cement his place in Australia’s batting set up.