- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Usman Khawaja says it appears that members of Justin Langer’s Australian team are “stabbing him in the back.”
The Queensland captain has spoken out on his own Youtube channel about the crisis engulfing Langer, with whom he famously clashed back in 2019 when he was last in the national team, as documented on The Test documentary on Amazon.
Langer, a notoriously prickly character, has seen his relationship with his players questioned amidst a series of leaks.
“The issue is there is something going on in the Australian team between the players and Justin Langer,” Khawaja said.
“Unfortunately, he was involved in a pretty bad West Indies, Bangladesh tour, which wasn’t entirely his fault because the majority of the team wasn’t even there. I don’t think it’s fair to judge him on the last two series.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
“How do you think JL feels? He probably feels like the guys in the team are stabbing him in the back. And that’s what it looks like.
“That’s why it’s so disappointing. It’s a really bad look and it’s something the group needs to sort out ASAP.”
Khawaja also offered an insight into Langer, a fiercely determined opening batsman who became national coach in 2018 in the wake of the ball tampering scandal and given a four year contract through to May next year.
“He loves Australian cricket, wants the best for everyone,” Khawaja said.
“He wants to succeed, he’s driven by winning, he’s driven by winning the right way, and all the things he brought into the Australian team after ‘Sandpapergate’ were focused on these things.
“The one thing that keeps coming up about him are his emotions. Yes, the man wears his heart on his sleeve, he can be very emotional.
“It’s probably his one downside. His greatest weakness is probably his emotions because he rides the high and he rides the low, but that’s only because he’s passionate.
“Unfortunately that’s probably the one thing that’s letting him down the most but it comes from a very good place. And he knows it, he knows he needs to improve. He’s said it in the media, I’ve chatted to him. He’s trying to improve on it.
“International cricket is a tough place. Having your emotions tested from time to time, that’s just going to happen.”
Khawaja, 34, said Langer was not alone in being responsible for Australia’s recent decline.
“The guys aren’t performing, the players have to take ownership at some stage,” Khawaja said.
“He deserves the opportunity to coach Australia in the T20 World Cup, he deserves the opportunity to coach Australia in the Ashes.
“If after all that, things are still not going well, if things aren’t gelling, if all the players are back and something is still up and going wrong, that is when you look at things and think ‘okay, maybe do we need to change something’.”
Khawaja was shown on The Test doco standing up to Langer and telling the coach players were “walking on eggshells” around him, but he insisted their relationship was good.
“People think I got dropped because I spoke up to him, stood up to him and all these other things,” said Khawaja.
“It’s actually quite the opposite. I feel like I became closer with him. I feel like he gained my respect and I gained his respect because we had some really open and honest conversations together.
“I still talk to him, I still text him here and there.
“So let’s just stop it right there. There were two people who dropped me for the Ashes, Trevor Hohns and JL , so it wasn’t just JL.
“Do I believe I should have been there the last couple of years, do I think I was in the best top six batsmen? In my heart, yes I do believe that. But I don’t select the teams, so for me it’s water off a duck’s back.”