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Left ‘angry and frustrated’ after being sidelined from the nationwide workforce greater than a 12 months in the past, Australia’s Usman Khawaja says a frank chat with coach Justin Langer has helped him recover from the frustration and focus on a comeback.
The 33-year-old, who had amassed 1,085 ODI runs at 49.31 final 12 months, didn’t discover a place in Australia’s 50-over squad for excursions of India and South Africa early in 2019, and was additionally disregarded from the 21-man group, which is presently in England for a restricted over collection.
Khawaja was additionally not included within the workforce for the house Test collection in opposition to Pakistan and New Zealand following his omission from the 2019 Ashes and it has been greater than a 12 months since he final performed for the nationwide workforce.
“There was a bigger squad (for the UK white-ball tour) so it was a bit disappointing, but I mean I’ve been dropped and in and out so many times that I’ve just learned to deal with it, much better than I would’ve say 10 years ago,” Khawaja informed cricket.com.au.
“I was a lot more disappointed when I first got left out of Indian tour, because at that time I felt like I very much belonged in that team, I was averaging 50 in one-day cricket for that period of time, I was in the top three or four run-scorers for the world in that year, so I didn’t really understand it.
“It was a really frustrating decision, and I was really angry for a period of that time.” Khawaja, who has to date scored 2887 runs and 1554 runs in 44 Tests and 40 ODIs respectively, mentioned a frank dialog with chief coach Langer calmed his thoughts.
“Fortunately I talked to JL (Langer) about three or four weeks after that happened … and got it all out in the open. It was a really good chat to have, and after that I’ve been really good; I’ve focused again on just worrying about my cricket.
“You want to ask selectors if there’s anything specific that’s sticking out (regarding non-selection) but in this case that’s not it; in this case, I’m a top-order batsman and you’ve got Steve Smith, Dave Warner and the captain, Aaron Finch, ahead of me.
“I was hoping to be a spare batsman in that top order which I thought I might’ve been this (UK tour), but I wasn’t, and that’s OK.” Khawaja mentioned he’s shut to creating a comeback and can look to earn his place again with a great efficiency within the upcoming season.
“There’s Big Bash, plenty of red-ball cricket, and I still feel like there’s a lot left for me on the horizon, and I’m making sure I’m focusing on that stuff rather than worrying about not being picked because I know how quickly things can change in cricket.
“In four-day and Test match cricket I’ve had really good conversations with JL, too, and at the end of the day, I feel like I’m really close there.
“If I score runs, I put my hand up and give myself the best chance to bat in Test cricket anywhere in that top six. That’s all I can do.”
Khawaja, who has scored 1380 runs in 42 matches for Sydney Thunder in Big Bash League, mentioned he want to discover a profession within the varied T20 leagues as soon as he retires from worldwide cricket.
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