Usman Khawaja Breaks Decade-Long Wait with Maiden Test Hundred in England

In the Ashes opener at Edgbaston on Saturday, Usman Khawaja ended his ten-year wait for a maiden Test century in England, leading Australia’s recovery. After Stuart Broad dismissed David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne in successive balls, followed by Ben Stokes capturing the wicket of star batsman Steve Smith, Australia found themselves struggling at 67/3.

However, they made a strong comeback, reaching 311/5 by stumps on the second day of the five-match series. Opening batsman Khawaja remained unbeaten on 126, while wicket-keeper Alex Carey provided solid support with an undefeated 52, forming an unbroken partnership of 91 runs.

Despite their recovery, Australia still trailed by 82 runs, as England had declared their first innings at 393/8, anchored by Joe Root’s unbeaten 118.

Ahead of the match, Australia captain Pat Cummins had emphasized that his team did not need to adopt England’s aggressive batting style, known as “Bazball.” He stated that it was perfectly acceptable for their batsmen to take their time and play patiently to reach a hundred, even if it required facing 200 balls.

Khawaja’s innings exemplified this approach as he reached his century in 199 balls, his 15th in Test matches and seventh in the last 18 matches since his recall last year. He sealed his hundred with a well-executed late-cut boundary off Stokes.

In a moment of suspense, Khawaja’s resilient innings seemed to come to an end when Broad bowled him for 112 in the first over with the new ball. However, replays revealed that Broad had overstepped the crease, resulting in a marginal no-ball, and Khawaja was given a reprieve.

Broad had earlier dismissed Warner for the eighth time in Ashes matches, having troubled him throughout the 2019 series. Warner, on nine, chased a wide delivery from Broad, inside-edging it onto his stumps.

The crowd erupted when Labuschagne, the top-ranked Test batsman globally, fell for a golden duck, edging a Broad outswinger that was superbly caught by diving wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow.

Smith managed to avoid a hat-trick but struggled during his brief innings of 16, failing to hit a single boundary. Stokes, despite concerns about his bowling fitness due to a longstanding knee injury, trapped Smith lbw with a ball that nipped back.

As the ball grew older and batting conditions improved, Khawaja and Travis Head thwarted England’s progress with an 81-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Both left-handers took on Moeen Ali, hitting the recalled off-spinner for sixes on his home ground in Birmingham.

Stokes persisted with Moeen, who was playing his first Test in nearly two years after a hiatus from red-ball cricket. The persistence paid off when Head, fresh from a century in Australia’s World Test Championship final victory over India, was dismissed for a brisk 50 off 63 balls, dragging a drive off Moeen to Zak Crawley at midwicket.

At 148/4, Australia had a scare when Cameron Green charged down the wicket on his second ball but missed a stumping opportunity that Bairstow couldn’t capitalize on. Green was eventually bowled by Moeen for 38, but not before he had put on a crucial 72-run partnership with Khawaja.

Bairstow, who scored a quick-fire 78 on Friday, also dropped Alex Carey, then on 26 off occasional spinner Root. Despite the availability of a potentially better wicket-

Usman Khawaja, an Australian batsman, has expressed his view that England is the most challenging place for top-order batsmen to play cricket, and he anticipates a difficult time in the upcoming Ashes series due to his prior struggles on previous tours. Khawaja has a batting average of 19.66 from six Tests played in England, which is less than half of his career average of 47.81. He was also dropped after featuring in three matches during the 2019 Ashes, which Australia drew 2-2 to retain the urn.

According to Khawaja, “England is unequivocally the toughest place in the world for a top-three batsman to bat.” He cited the demanding nature of facing the new ball and unpredictable weather conditions that can affect the outcome of the game. Luck is also a significant factor that comes into play when batting in England, Khawaja noted in his statements to the Australian media.

The Australian batsman Usman Khawaja emphasized the importance of working hard and training diligently, especially if one is preparing to play cricket in England. He advised having low expectations and focusing on each game one at a time because failure is a common experience for batsmen in England. However, when a batsman does manage to score, Khawaja suggested capitalizing on the opportunity as much as possible.

Khawaja was not the only player to struggle for runs during the 2019 Ashes series, with fellow opener David Warner recording the worst-ever average by an opener to play ten innings in a series, averaging just 9.50. Khawaja himself was dropped after the Leeds Test in 2019 and only recalled for the fourth Test during the last Ashes series played in Australia in 2021-22, which Australia won 4-0.
Khawaja impressed in that Sydney match, scoring twin centuries while batting at number five, and has since been a regular fixture in the Australian Test lineup. He believes that he has improved as a player over the past decade but acknowledges that facing bowlers such as James Anderson and Stuart Broad in England will always be a challenging prospect.

Usman Khazar was born in Islamabad, Pakistan. He moved to Australia when he was only 4 years old. Australia’s top-level cricket is now playing there. And this opener has spent the last year like a dream. He received the ‘Shane Warne Award’ for Australia’s Test Cricketer of the Year.

But before flying to India, there was a problem with his visa. Pakistan’s leading media “Dawn” has written in one of their reports, “The wave of hostile relations between the two countries has hit the sports field as well.”

But finally, Khawaja got an Indian visa. Khawaja will join the team ahead of the first Test against India on February 9. The first Test of the four-match Test series will begin on February 9. After the Test series, Australia will also play a three-match ODI series against India.

Khawaja has played 56 Tests, 40 ODIs, and 9 T20Is for Australia. Earlier, Khawaja had trouble traveling to India to play in the Champions League franchise T20 tournament held in 2011.

Later he was granted a visa through special intervention.

Pat Cummins has left Australia to play a Test against India. The Australian cricket team is coming to India in two parts to play the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But Usman Khawaja, Australia’s Test player of the year, could not board the flight with any team.

Cummins-Smith had to leave the country without Khawaja from Sydney due to visa problems. Khwaja is embarrassed to not be able to go to India with the team. The Aussie star shared the embarrassing situation with a mimi on social media, “This is how I am waiting to get my Indian visa. ’

The first part of the Australian staff and players left for India on Tuesday. Steve Smith and David Warner left the country for the second time the next day. This is not the first time Khazar has faced visa complications while traveling to India. Born in Pakistan, the Aussie star faced visa issues while playing in the Champions Trophy in 2011. Khawaja was also in trouble before Australia played an ODI series in India last year.

Usman Khawaja has moved up four places to eight in the test batsmen’s rankings. His teammate Marnus Labuschagne retained the top spot. Liton Das of Bangladesh has dropped one step back to number 12. Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel has moved up 20 places due to his century in the first Test of his career against New Zealand.

Cummins is at the top of the test bowlers’ rankings as usual. Josh Hazlewood, another Aussie pacer who took five wickets in the Sydney Test, has moved up six places to number 10.

India’s Virat Kohli has moved up two places to six in the list of ODI batsmen due to his match-winning century against Sri Lanka. His teammate Rohit Sharma (8) has taken a step forward. Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka (61), who scored a century in the same match, has moved up 20 steps. Pakistan captain Babar Azam retained the top spot.

India’s Suryakumar Yadav is at the top of the T20 batsmen’s rankings. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan has retained the top position in the list of all-rounders. Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan has climbed to the top of the bowlers’ rankings by ousting Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga.

At the end of the first day, Australia’s total was 147 for 2, Khawaja was unbeaten on 54, Khawaja shared a 209-run partnership with Smith for the third wicket, Khawaja picked up his 13th century in a 56-match Test career.

On the other hand, Smith completed his 30th century in the 92nd Test, with this innings, Smith surpassed Sir Don Bradman’s record of 29 centuries in 52 Tests, after the century, Smith was dismissed by South African spinner Keshav Maharaj, before scoring 104 runs in 192 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes.

Khawaja added 112 runs with Travis Head after Smith’s dismissal, head was dismissed for 70 off 59 balls with 8 fours and a six in a deadly mood, Khawaja finished the day’s play with Matt Renshaw, he is now 5 runs away from the double-century, Khawaja has hit 19 fours and 1 six so far in his 368-ball innings.

South Africa pacer Anrich Nortje took two wickets for 55 runs, while pacers Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj took one wicket each.

Khawaja, who scored 1554 runs in 40 ODIs, said in an interview given to Cricinfo on Friday, “This is my personal opinion.

I know a lot of people like me are thinking that. There is Test cricket, which is above everything else. There is T20 cricket, which has many franchise leagues all over the world, it’s very enjoyable, the version that everyone likes. Then one-day cricket. ‘

The batter, who last played an ODI against South Africa in the 2019 World Cup, added: “I think ODI’s are in third place among all the editions. Personally, I think ODI cricket is slowly dying. There’s still the World Cup, which is a great pleasure and it’s nice to see. Apart from that even I myself probably am not very interested in ODI cricket. ‘