"Think on it for a moment, and run your eye up and down the palely conventional list of Australia's highest Test scorers, where he ranks 15th, between Mike Hussey and Neil Harvey so various in methods yet so similar in origins. There was a recognition through the 1990s and into the 21st century that the face of Australia was being changed by immigration, while the face of Australian cricket remained eerily unaltered."
"Yet he wasn't there for looks. He wasn't your affirmative action pick; he wasn't your diversity hire. He amassed big runs, and in Test cricket too. Playing no international white ball cricket after the 2019 World Cup, he became one of the dwindling band of specialists in a multi-format world, moving at his one-man tempo with his singular technique. His contemporaries Steve Smith, a batting wonk, and David Warner, a polychrome pioneer, were uncompromising moderns."
"As others' check drives rocketed to mid-off, nobody in our era defended like Khawaja, his soft hands easing the ball to the ground as though comforting a patient. At the same time, he popularised the reverse sweep so understatedly it ceased to seem outre."
Usman Khawaja ranks 15th among Australia's highest Test run-scorers, positioned between Mike Hussey and Neil Harvey. He debuted in the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG in 2011, pulling his first Test delivery for four and signaling a subtle shift in Australian cricket. Khawaja combined prolific run-scoring with an elegant, touch-based technique and a reverse sweep that became mainstream. He withdrew from international white-ball cricket after the 2019 World Cup and became a Test specialist. Khawaja's style contrasted with contemporaries Steve Smith and David Warner, favoring minimal effort for maximal effect and a uniquely soft defensive touch.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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