Usman khawaja

Usman Khawaja has put an end to the furore surrounding the Australian cricket team’s decision to drop its traditional champagne spray celebrations. The star batter has shared an image of him drinking a diet coke from inside the team’s dressing room celebrations following their World Test Championship final triumph over India in London. Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Photos show Khawaja holding the ICC World Test Championship Mace in one hand and his soft drink of choice in the other. His post comes after the team was dragged into a storm surrounding its decision to celebrate without champagne during the official trophy presentations on Sunday night. It was a Twitter post by former UK politician Nigel Farage that resulted in the celebrations suddenly becoming a social media scandal. Pat Cummins of Australia lifts the ICC World Test Championship Mace during the trophy presentation ceremony. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images. Source: Getty Images Usman Khawaja drinking in that sweet taste of victory. Photo by Ryan Pierse-ICC/ICC via Getty Images. Source: Getty Images “Once again the Australian cricket team do not celebrate in champagne style because 1 of the team members is a Muslim,” the ex-UK Independence Party leader wrote. “Are we all to suspend normal life because of the minority?” It is far from the first time under Test captain Pat Cummins that the Aussie team has foregone champagne during its celebrations — and the fast bowler was widel...

Usman Khawaja will open with David Warner for Australia in the fifth and final Ashes Test against England in Hobart. Photograph: Steve Bell/Getty Images Usman Khawaja will open with David Warner for Australia in the fifth and final Ashes Test against England in Hobart. Photograph: Steve Bell/Getty Images Scott Boland is determined to push through the pain barrier and play in Hobart, where Australia have confirmed childhood friends Usman Khawaja and David Warner will open the batting. Travis Head’s return has prompted a rejig at the top of Australia’s order, with Marcus Harris dumped for the fifth Ashes Test that begins on Friday. Pat Cummins stopped short of naming his XI on the eve of the pink-ball Test, keen to see whether Boland proves his fitness in the squad’s final training session before the series finale. Boland, who hurt his ribs while tumbling onto the pitch during a bowling mishap at the SCG, proceeded to come off his long run and showed few signs of discomfort in the nets. Read more Boland had a brief chat with team physio David Beakley and selector Tony Dodemaide after his spell before batting. Cummins flagged a likely call-up for Jhye Richardson if selectors or medical staff decided there was too much risk involved with Boland backing up. But the skipper struck a confident tone while discussing Boland’s hopes of extending his remarkable start to a Test career that has featured 14 wickets at 8.64. “He’ll just have a bowl and judge it. He feels a little bit bet...

On day four in Sydney, he delivered Australian cricket yet another gift, becoming just the third man in history to score a century in each innings of an SCG Test. But this one, this scoring spree in the Saturday afternoon sun, was pure and simple fun, a carefree display of the most elegant batting from an athlete so comfortably in his flow state he hardly broke sweat. It was Ussie's greatest hits from start to finish: The effortless cover driving, the grace of the pull shots, the unorthodox ease of the reverse sweeping. You could have watched these shots in silhouette and known instantly they were Khawaja's. He and Cameron Green convened in a difficult period, with the match still in the balance. Jack Leach had just clean-bowled Steve Smith and had Australia's wobble turned into a collapse, England's path to victory would have been tantalisingly wide. The pair navigated that tricky initial spell, safe in the knowledge that the old adage remains as true at Test level as it is in third grade: The time to cash in is after tea. Usman Khawaja is just the third Australian man to score two centuries in the same Test this decade. ( Getty: Cameron Spencer) Khawaja found his accelerator and sped to his landmark century, before Green joined in for a valve-release of a 50 of his own. England's position of promise had entirely evaporated, and their thoughts had no doubt already moved to the significant task of batting for about 100 overs to save the Test. At that point, England wouldn'...

NEW DELHI: Australia openers While Khawaja had a horrendous outing against India, scoring 0 and 13, Warner looked good during his 43-run knock in the first innings but scored just 1 run in the second. During the 2019 Ashes too Australia had failed to get runs at the top with Stuart Broad dismissing Warner 7 times in the series. "I thought Davey moved well in the first innings (against India)," McDonald told Australian media. "He got strangled down the leg side. You look at that, and you say 'a little bit of luck there and potentially that's a bigger score'. "But the way he moved, the way he played is exactly what we want." Khawaja was dropped after three tests in the 2019 Ashes but the stylish lefthander has piled on the runs since his recall to the squad for the Sydney test against England in January 2022. "Uzzie's last two years speak for themselves. There's going to be failure points for any batters and he's had one," said McDonald. "But it doesn't mean he's any less prepared." England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who retired from test cricket in September 2021, was added to the Ashes squad for the first two tests after spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the series. McDonald said it would be a "challenge" for England to adjust their attack to fit Moeen. "Mo hasn't played a red-ball game for an extended period of time. No doubt he'll be prepared - he's had a couple of weeks' notice," said McDonald.

Usman Khawaja wonders whether we’ve ever met. “No?” he says as he shakes my hand. “That’s probably a good thing, I used to hate journalists.” Khawaja laughs, smiles, settles into his chair and makes me promise not to stitch him up in the headline. “The thing is …” I say. “I know, I know,” he replies, then adds, in an imitation whine: “‘I don’t write the headlines.’” Khawaja has copped a lot of bad ones in his time. He has had more lows than most, been dropped seven times in his 12-year Test career. “I want to say I’m one of the most-dropped players ever.” And I have just asked him about the worst of them. It was 2019, Australia’s last Ashes tour. Khawaja finally felt he had established himself as a senior player in the team. He had a Test average just north of 40, although it was declining each time he got caught behind, which kept happening. Read more “But I still felt I was in the top six batsmen in the country.” The selectors disagreed. In the past Khawaja had been “quite reflective and circumspect” when he was dropped, but this time he was “genuinely angry”. He was 32 and was sure his Test career was over. “It was the hardest year. People have had it a lot tougher than me, I know, there are so many worse things in life than getting dropped in cricket, but at the time, it does feel like the worst thing.” Eventually, his thinking changed. “I was like ‘All right, cool. Well, I played 44 Tests and that’s a lot more than many people get to play.’ If you look through the lis...

Khawaja impressed England supporters, popularly called the 'Barmy Army', with his dance moves while fielding near the boundary line. In a video uploaded by cricket.com.au on their Twitter handle, the southpaw can be seen pulling out the "shuffle" dance in front of the "Usman Khawaja pulling out the shuffle for the Barmy Army," the video was captioned. Usman Khawaja pulling out the shuffle for the Barmy Army! Australia, who had declared their first innings at 473/9d in the first innings, are in firm control of the proceedings in the ongoing Day/Night Test. After bowling out England for 234 in the first innings, Australia increased their lead to 467 runs, declaring their second innings at 230/9d on Day 4.