The retirement of Australia’s star Test batsman Usman Khawaja has been in the news during this Ashes series. Finally, a press conference has been held on Friday morning, a day before the start of the fifth match at the SCG, to address the speculations surrounding his retirement.
Ahead of the Ashes, Cricket Australia has been in turbulent times. Many important players of his team like Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have already been ruled out of the series due to injuries. Even the best batsmen Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith could not make any significant impact with the bat.
In a major development, Australia’s veteran opener Usman Khawaja is on the verge of ending his decade-long career with the Australian team. Speculations have been rife on social media and Khawaja will address the press to reach any conclusion.
Press conference has been held at the SCG to address Usman Khawaja’s retirement speculations
Khawaja, who is 39, will play in the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG after it has been reported that he has been named in the final squad for the final Test in Sydney. However, his future with the Australian team is in doubt.
A press conference will be held at the SCG at 8:15pm, and while Cricket Australia has not revealed who will speak, it has been confirmed that Khawaja will face the media. It has been an up-and-down season for Khawaja so far this Ashes. He batted in the first innings of the Perth Test and then missed the second Test in Brisbane.
After being left out of the Adelaide XI, he returned to play in the third Test as a replacement for Steve Smith and played the best innings of the series to keep his career intact. In his last four innings, Khawaja has scored 80, 40, 29 and a zero.
SCG curator under investigation after mistake in MCG
After the Ashes-winning team lost the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the ICC also claimed that the pitch was unsatisfactory, with a total of 36 wickets falling in two days, which was the worst in Ashes history.
Hence, immense pressure was put on SCG curator Adam Lewis when the SCG curator admitted the fact that the day after the match, his team had prepared the pitch wrongly. Although not much reading could be made on the SCG track, early indications show some good lateral movement for the seamers.
However, weather conditions in Sydney have not been great, as rain has hampered the last 6 of the 11 Test matches played at the venue.
Usman Khawaja’s test career for Australia
Usman Khawaja made his Test debut for Australia against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2011. The ground where he made his debut could possibly also be the ground of his last international match.
In these 15 years, Usman Khawaja has gone through ups and downs during his career and has played 87 matches for Australia. In 157 innings, the batsman scored 6206 runs at an average of 43.39. With 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries to his name, Usman Khawaja is a decorated hero in the longest format of the game.
His unique Test records include a century in every innings of a match, batting on every day of a 5-day match and being the 50th fastest to score 6000 runs in Test cricket. In his significant career, the 39-year-old player also scored 1554 runs in ODIs at an average of 42 and 2 centuries.
Also read: England future of Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum will be decided after Sydney Test
