Khawaja will be playing his 88th and final international match at his home – the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Usman Khawaja will be stepping away from international cricket after the end of the New Year’s Test against England, the senior batter himself confirmed. The 39-year-old addressed the media ahead of the Sydney Test, and informed all his Australian teammates moments before making it official that his 88th Test match appearance will indeed be his last in international cricket.
Born in Islamabad, Pakistan, Khawaja immigrated to Australia — one cricket-crazy country to another, at the age of five. And since then, his life has all been about serving the Aussies in cricket, be it at any level. He started with New South Wales in his early career, and ended up playing for the senior side, just three years after his First-Class debut in 2008. It was natural for him to be full of emotions to make the decision.
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“It’s been tough, I’ve just wanted to tell everyone. I told teammates just then. I didn’t think I’d get emotional but I teared up straightaway and I had to compose myself. I finally composed myself and got out what I wanted to say. I never thought I’d be the guy that would cry when he retired but I cried straightaway. It just shows what it means to me,” Khawaja told the media.
“My journey has been different to a lot of cricketers in the Australian cricket team. All that emotion built up. I just want to be remembered as a humble cricketer who went out there and entertained, and (that) people enjoyed watching,” he said.
Despite being a feature for Australia across all three formats of the game, Khawaja’s true resurgence came to light as a red-ball cricketer. Scoring over 6000 runs in Test match cricket, he has 16 centuries at an average that ranges to the north of 43. With the upcoming game being his last, he would certainly not mind making it 17 hundreds and lead into his second innings with a happy ending to his first.
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