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Everyone needs to cool their jets on Usman Khawaja

Roar Guru
27th January, 2016
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Usman Khawaja is one of the few Aussie cricketers that should be guaranteed selection for the rest of the summer. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
Roar Guru
27th January, 2016
62
1751 Reads

The hyperbole around Usman Khawaja at the moment is ridiculous. Best batsman in the country? Come on!

Even if you ignore the claims of Steve Smith and Meg Lanning, there are a couple of guys by the names of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the country at the moment who’d have something to say about that.

Batting better than Brian Lara? Give it a rest Mark Waugh – that comment has the ring of a selector who was out-voted at the selection meeting.

Khawaja might be arguably the form Australian batsman at this moment, but form is temporary.

Everyone needs to take a deep breath and think before speaking or posting.

Just to be clear, I’m as a big a fan of Usman Khawaja as there is, and have written articles about him in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Most of those focused on his Test potential, however during 2014 I also posted several comments about him being a lock for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, based on his dominance in the previous two One Day Cup competitions.

Alas, he blew out his ACL during a BBL fielding drill and missed that opportunity, although it is debatable if he would have been given a call-up.

Since his recovery from that injury and his return to cricket in July 2015, Khawaja has poured on the runs, amassing 1460 from 20 matches across all formats, at an average of 76.8.

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Even if you discount the not-outs due to the small sample size it would still be an average of 60.8. That’s a pretty good six months.

Which brings us Khawaja’s non-selection in the national ODI and T20 teams.

While his form has been up and down since his international debut in 2011, especially against the red ball, Khawaja had clearly been working on his game over the last five years, and the results showed first in the limited overs formats.

Khawaja played three ODIs for Australia at the start of 2013, for three single-digit scores. However, since being dropped from the national limited-overs squad in February 2013, Khawaja has averaged 56.9 from 27 List-A matches, and 70.6 from 12 T20 matches.

That is 2057 runs from 39 limited overs innings, at an average of 60.5 played under different conditions on three continents (Australia, England, and India) between February 2013 and January 2016, despite needing a knee reconstruction in the middle.

That is not a purple patch, that is consistent run-scoring of the highest calibre sustained over three years.

So how is Khawaja not one of the best four white-ball batsmen in Australia?

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The answer is actually pretty simple. The side is not being picked from scratch; some players have the benefit of incumbency and proven international performances – as it should be. Australia won the ODI World Cup recently, and although some players have retired, a good number with legitimate claims remain.

There are really only four batting spots in a modern limited overs side, with a wicketkeeper, two or three all-rounders, and three or four bowlers making up the rest of the team. Of those four batting spots, ODI captain Steven Smith, T20 captain Aaron Finch, and vice-captain in both formats David Warner take up three. That leaves one spot (plus another one or two in the wider squad) for which the following players are competing: Shaun Marsh, George Bailey, Chris Lynn, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja. Legitimate cases can be made to include any of them, which means – as Brett McKay wrote on Tuesday – at least two batsmen are going to be very unlucky.

Personally, I look at Khawaja as one of the batsmen to build the Australian batting order around – Warner opening followed by Khawaja and Smith at first and second drop for Tests, and then all moving up one spot in the limited overs formats.

However my personal opinion does not mean the selectors are wrong.

Khawaja is still settling into the Test line-up, and although he’s played well at home, scoring well overseas is the hallmark of a world-class batsman. If he is to become a mainstay of the batting order, then the selectors want him to be focussed on the Test matches in New Zealand, rather than trying to establish himself in the Australian limited overs teams. This is a similar rationale to the one applied to Nathan Lyon – you and I may not agree with it, but it is not unreasonable.

Khawaja doesn’t bowl or keep wicket, which means for half of the match his job is fielding, and he isn’t a gun fielder. He isn’t terrible, he isn’t lazy, but neither is he any more than ‘good’. If Khawaja fails with the bat, he is unlikely to contribute to the match by saving a dozen runs or affecting a game-changing run out in the field.

The selectors have made the call that Finch is their ODI and T20 opener, as well as T20 captain, which means there isn’t space for Khawaja at the opening spot he is most suited to take.

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Khawaja will probably get an opportunity, and when he does it will be up to him to perform well and seize it, however right now there isn’t an opportunity.

So, just to reiterate, everyone needs to calm down!

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