Usman Tariq Khawaja is the first MUSLIM to play for Australia. As of today ie 3rd Feb , 2025 Khawaja's stats run as follows :
Career Batting Stats
Left-Handed Batsman
3
His career achievments are as follows
The above suggests in a highly competitive sport like Cricket and in a country like Australia where STAR CULTURE is not prevalent & where to play for so long merits real meritocracy , Khawaja is a damn good player . And that he is without any iota of doubt .. But my today's article doesnt reecho the tacit fact that Khawaja is a great player - it doesnt .. My article is trying to unravel much beyond that .
The juvenile romanticism of watching an ethnic South East Asian to play for a country which welcomes immigrants not withstanding , let us understand why Khawaja is so important for the game , and why is he being discussed more often than not .
There is a famous saying by the Talismanic Nelson Mandela, " Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. " The same applies for Usman or ' Ussy' as he is called by his mates .
As I said at the beginning , Khawaja is the first Muslim to play for Australia. Having lived and earned my bread in that country, I know how much that country loves and opens arms to immigrants given the % of skilled labour is waning by the hour there. But that alone cannot and doesn't quantify and qualify for the surreal aura of Usman Khawaja .
Cricket we know is a sport where talent, discipline , teamwork , being politically correct - nothing works in SILO. It has to be a combination of all these things together , with being in the right place at the RIGHT TIME being the most important , or else you have to be a DON BRADMAN / SACHIN TENDULKAR who were above it all. If you were a Vinod Kambli harping only on talent , or a Mark RamPrakash only on discipline , or a Robin Singh with high level of fitness & zero talent , or Venkatpathy Raju only managing bosses like Azhar and Late Raj Dungarpur , then each would have played 100 test matches. But we know its not so. Also even all of these put together may not land you with longevity and greatness. There has to be a spot for you in the team - Cricket is so highly competitive in India that even a Karun Nair after scoring a triple hundred never gets a chance again ( controversial though).
This is where Khawaja's greatness comes into fore. He has been dropped 7 times in his career. Yes a jaw dropping seven times - only comparable to the original Frank Sinatra of Cricket - Mohinder Amarnath. But unlike Amarnath, Khawaja's exclusions mostly have been due to lack of form and somehow failing to find a place in an already top heavy Aussie batting line up and only once due to a controversial disciplinary reason (we will discuss this later). Khawaja made his debut in the 2010-11 Ashes series . Batting at 3, he made 37 & 21 in a heavy innings defeat.
He was dropped against the visiting Indian side in 2011-12 , the first time he was dropped. He couldn't find his place back in the team for the next 3 series against West Indies, South Africa and Srilanka. He was selected to tour India in 2013 series under Michael Clerk as captain where the unsavioury incident occured.
Before the third Test against India in March 2013, Australia suspended Khawaja, along with James Pattinson, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson following a breach of discipline. Michael Clarke, the captain, revealed that the step had been taken as a result of repeated infractions which led to Watson flying back home and contemplating Test retirement. Some former players reacted with astonishment at the decision taken by the team management. Khawaja made his Test return in the second Test of the 2013 Ashes series, replacing Ed Cowan.
After an insipid Ashes , Khawaja was again dropped this time albeit a much longer time frame - he missed the return Ashes in Australia, then wasnt picked for the South Africa tour , Pakistan tour, home series against India , tour of Carribean and the Ashes at home.
In the first Test against New Zealand on 5 November 2015; his first Test in more than two years, he scored his maiden Test century, scoring 174 runs with 16 fours and 2 sixes. He made this return in his tenth Test in the coveted number 3 position, helping Australia to an emphatic victory. In the very next test at WACA he scored 121 and then went on to score 144 at MCG on Boxing Day against the visiting West Indians . For the first time he was doing justice to his precocious talent.
He made his Twenty20 International debut for Australia against India on 31 January 2016.
During the 2015–16 season, Khawaja was in spectacular form for Australia and his domestic T20 franchise the Sydney Thunder, with many pundits hailing his renaissance as a batsman since being dropped from the Australian team in 2013 and recovering from an injury in 2015. He also switched to using Kookaburra equipment. In August 2016, Khawaja endured one of the lowest ebbs in test career when he was dismissed twice in a day's play for 11 runs and duck in both innings by Dilruwan Perera during Australia's second test match of the series against Sri Lanka at Galle International Stadium and question marks were raised about Khawaja's inability to play spin especially in subcontinental conditions. His vulnerability against spin also played a major reason in removing him from the side ahead of the third and the final test match of the series.
He was again dropped for the tour of India in early 2017 before making a comeback against Bangladesh. He followed it up with a poor to average Ashes at home, sans the last test at Sydney where he scored a very timely 171 to save and prolong his career.
In April 2018, he was awarded a national contract by Cricket Australia for the 2018–19 season. He played a match saving innings against Pakistan in the first Test in 2018 at Dubai, where he played a fluent innings of 141 under immense pressure especially in the fourth innings opening the batting while chasing a mammoth total of 462 runs and for his efforts, he received player of the match award. He showed his glimpses of using proper technique and shot selection to counter the spin attack in the test match in Dubai in 2018 which turned out to be a turning point in his career and he buried the past nightmares of being a weak batsman against spin with a prolific batting effort by revamping his approach in both innings to save the test match for Australia from a brink of huge defeat.
In July 2019, he was named in Australia's squad for the 2019 Ashes series in England. In the series, he returned the scores of 13, 40, 36, 2, 8 and 23, failing to convince. Therefore, for the fourth Ashes Test, Steve Smith replaced Khawaja after returning from concussion, while Marnus Labuschagne retained his place in the side.
In January 2022, Khawaja made a comeback to international cricket after a long hiatus, in the 4th Ashes Test at SCG; and made twin centuries in the match, posting scores of 137 and 101* respectively.
Khawaja was then selected for the Australian tour of Pakistan. He was the highest run scorer in the series scoring 496 runs at an average of 165.33, a performance which earned him player of the series. He scored 97 runs in the first innings of the first test. He then scored 160 runs in the first innings of the second test and 44* in the second innings. In the first innings of the third test, he scored 91 followed by 104* in the second innings, helping Australia win the final match of the series and as such the series as a whole.
In January 2023, in the third Test against South Africa, he completed his 4000 Test runs, and struck his career-best 195 runs. Khawaja capped off his return to international cricket by picking up the Shane Warne Test Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony, ahead of Travis Head and Steve Smith. Khawaja was also awarded the Community Impact Award at the same event.
Ashes 2023
Khawaja continued his run of good form in the 2023 Ashes series, in England, scoring 496 runs @ 49.60, the highest runscorer for either side, with the bulk of his runs coming in the first 2 tests, both of which Australia won on the way to retaining the ashes with a 2-2 series result. Khawaja made a statement in the first test at Edgbaston by scoring his first test century on English soil during Australia's first innings, finally dismissed for 141 off 321 deliveries after being set up by a bamboozling yorker delivery from Ollie Robinson as the latter eventually gave him an aggressive sendoff indicating Khawaja being the main resistance for England's possible opportunity of winning the first test. Khawaja was also triggered by interesting field placement strategy deployed by England captain Ben Stokes which made him to throw his wicket away possibly at a critical juncture of the match. Khawaja again made runs in the second innings which was critically important in the context of the match where Australia were set a challenging target of 282. He frustrated the English opponents with his old school style of playing test cricket by scoring 65 off 197 deliveries before being bowled by Stokes when he attempted to play a shot which edged his bat and castled the stumps. His innings eventually sealed the deal for Australia as the visitors won the closely fought contest by margin of 2 wickets courtesy of late cameos from skipper Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. He was awarded the player of the match for his batting heroics in the first test which guided Australia to take an early lead in the Ashes series 1-0 thereby having a psychological advantage over the home side. Khawaja also set a new milestone for becoming only the second Australian batsman ever in test history to bat in all five days and became only the thirteenth man overall to bat on each day of a five-day test match.
Post 2022 he has never missed out playing for Australia , but his sudden dip of form against a very spirited Jasprit Bumrah & his advancing age gave birth to many a speculation that the end was near . Against the visiting Indians , Khawaja was deeply troubled at the top of the order most of the times, and barring a solitary half century at MCG , his returns were poor to say the least, and the way he played raised questions about his long term sustenance . Khawaja had a surprisingly disappointing return to test cricket overall in 2024 with just two half-centuries to his name, despite after having set the test cricket scene on fire in 2023. People were now calling for his head specially his former captain Michael Clarke with whom he doesnt share a good rapport. But the clever Australian selectors knowing his prowess against spin bowlers in Sub continent selected him for the Srilanka tour . This at the age of 38, was going to be a make or break tour for Khawaja with SAM CONSTAS breathing down the neck.
Khawaja found his mojo and redemption during the first test match of the two-match test tour to Sri Lanka where he applied good use of the feet and batting temperament against a hapless Sri Lankan spin bowling attack and on first day's play he reached to his first test century since 2023 and ended up remaining unbeaten on 147 before rain curtailed further play to effectively bring stumps to day one's proceedings.When he reached the landmark triple figures to raise his bat towards the dressing room indicating a vital century to put the criticisms aside, he became only the second Australian batsman after Allan Border to have completed a set of test centuries in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while Khawaja also has a test century to his name in the United Arab Emirates to be in the elite list of being the only Australian to have completed centuries in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UAE. He eventually scored his maiden double century in test cricket and became the second oldest ever Australian test cricketer to score a double century at the age of 38 years and 42 days, trailing only behind Aussie great Don Bradman who did it at the age of 39 years and 149 days. He also became the first Australian batsman to score a test match double century in Sri Lankan soil, while bettering the previous best score of 166 made by Justin Langer in Sri Lankan soil. He also shattered the record held by Michael Slater's innings of 219 for the highest individual score by an Australian batsman against Sri Lanka in test cricket with 232. Khawaja also became only the second Australian to score a double century in test match cricket against Australia after Michael Slater and he also became the oldest ever cricketer to score test double century in Sri Lankan soil shattering the previous record held by Sachin Tendulkar who was 37 when he scored 200 in 2010. Khawaja also put on a record-breaking third wicket partnership of 266 runs with Steve Smith which also shattered the previous highest third-wicket partnership by an Australian pair in Asian soil (the previous best was 222 by Kim Hughes and Allan Border against India in 1979 in Chennai).
To be dropped so many times in his career and yet to come back the way he did in a country where there are no dearth of players specially openers, and to make the most of a chance in 2022 with Travis Head contracting Covid speaks volumes of his mental toughness , and his resolve to never give up till the final call is taken. A double century in a rank turner in GALLE speaks of the man , that too at the age of 38 facing possible elimination with at least 3 openers cuing to replace him. It is never easy to score runs in Sub Continent and that too at the age of 38 !! Makes the man a KING of comebacks and a LORD OF REBOUNDS. Looking forward to a great 2025 from Khawaja specially the WTC final against South Africa.
