Usman Khawaja has talked about how he went from working as a water boy to competing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2023. He spoke about how he warmed the bench during the 2017 Australian tour of India and the Indian Premier League before spending four months on the sidelines (IPL 2017).
The 36-year-old was a member of Australia’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad in 2017. However, he did not participate in any of the four matches. The visitors lost the Test series by a 2-1 scoreline.
The now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) also paid Rs 1 crore to acquire Khawaja, one of the leading run scorers in the Big Bash League (BBL), for the 2017 IPL. RPS, unfortunately, did not play at all during the competition as Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated them in the final by a score of 1 run.
There was a tweet from Usman Khawaja back then:
Usman Khawaja is now the player with the most runs scored in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, six years after his debut. In his seven innings, the southpaw collected 333 runs at an average of 47.57, including a tonne and two half-centuries.
It’s worth recalling that Khawaja struck 180 as Australia made a magnificent 480 in their opening innings of the fourth Test, which finished in a tie.
To help Australia reach the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final, the left-hander scored 60 runs in the 1st innings of the 3rd Test played in Indore. Australia won this match by nine wickets.
Usman Khawaja also recently struck an undefeated 195 against South Africa. He will look to guarantee Australia lift the Test mace by winning the Final summit showdown at the Oval in London, which starts on June 7.
