Captain Usman Khawaja took defending champions Queensland home with an irregular Test knock against Southern Australia. Khawaja took the attacking approach to make short work of a small target to guide Queensland to a comprehensive eight-wicket win in the fifth round of Sheffield Shield. Ahead of the Ashes 2021-22, the southpaw took the T20 approach in red-ball cricket as he scored an unbeaten 52 off 36 deliveries with a strike rate of 144.44.
Coming in to bat in the 14th over with his side struggling at 16/2, Khawaja was in T20 mode straightaway, much like Rishabh Pant on Australia tour earlier this year. The skipper backed away to fast bowlers to hit the short ball over the slip and gully fielders. The left-handed batter often went out of the line to hit the ball down the ground. He did not shy away from pulling the short ball whether it was along the ground or in the air. When the spinners were introduced, he disrupted their line and length with reverse sweeps. He had the same treatment for off-spinners and leg-spinners. In total, he hit 10 boundaries in his innings.
With 460 runs in 8 innings, he only trails Tim Ward by 7 runs at the summit of most scoring batters, sighting second in the list. Ahead of first Ashes Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, Australian selectors will have the tough task to choose between Travis Head and Khawaja.
The 34-year-old last played for Australia in Ashes 2019. The middle-order batsman has been in sensational form of late. He scored 174 against the same opponents in October. With two hundreds and one fifty, he will be involved in a tug-of-war battle with Head. Expected to play at no. 5, Khawaja’s latest cameo may make him Australia's designated counter-attack man.
While the Queensland skipper is back in the squad, opposition skipper Head is also searching for a place in the starting eleven. He last played for the national team on Boxing Day last year against India. The first Test of the Ashes starts on December 8 under the stewardship of new captain Pat Cummins.
