Overview:
Following his return to the Test team, Khawaja was consistent with the bat for two years, playing a key role in Australia's 2-2 draw in England in 2023.
Australia captain Pat Cummins has made a special request to Test opener Usman Khawaja ahead of the farewell Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Khawaja will play his last game against England in the ongoing Ashes series.
The 39-year-old has been a part of 87 Tests so far. Cummins congratulated his teammate on impressive performances for Australia and requested him to score a hundred at his home ground. Khawaja debuted in Sydney in 2011 against England during the fifth and final Ashes Test in the 2010-11 series.
“Congratulations on an incredible career, mate. One more home century to go,” Cummins wrote on his Instagram story.
Khawaja has been magnificent at SCG, scoring 875 runs from 9 Tests at an average of 87.5, with four centuries and one fifty. It was in Sydney where the southpaw made a memorable comeback after more than two years, amassing two hundreds during the 2021-22 Ashes series.
Following his return to the Test team, Khawaja was consistent with the bat for two years, playing a key role in Australia’s 2-2 draw in England in 2023. He accumulated 496 runs and finished as the highest run-scorer of the series. His form dipped from 2024 onwards, with the veteran managing 1029 runs in his last 36 innings at an average of 31.18, including one hundred and three-fifties.
Meanwhile, he suffered back spasms in the series opener in Perth and was ruled out of the second Test in the ongoing Ashes. Khawaja returned to the playing XI in the third Test after Steve Smith was sidelined.
In 87 Tests, 40 ODIs and 9 T20Is, he has scored 8,001 runs, including 18 centuries and 41 fifties. In the ODI series against India in 2019, he managed 383 runs from five matches at an average of 76.60, smashing two centuries and as many fifties.