Australia batter Usman Khawaja has been in stunning form ever since making a comeback to the Test team. In his first match back since 2019, he hit twin centuries in the Ashes Test in Sydney earlier this year and has not looked back since. Playing as an opener in Australia’s first tour of Pakistan in 24 years, he has racked up runs for fun, scoring one century and registering two scores in the 90s. His only other innings in the tour so far saw him hit an unbeaten 44.
In the first Test, he scored 97 – just falling short of a ton – but made amends in the next match, hitting 160 in the first innings and 44* in the second.
In the ongoing third Test, he made 91.
Since his return to Test cricket, Khawaja has scored 647 runs in five matches at an incredible average of 107.83.
Usman Khawaja’s 2022 in Test cricket:
137
101*
6
11
97
160
44*
91647 runs at an average of 107.83 #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/NSJkDBLXpM
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 21, 2022
Overall, before the ongoing match against Pakistan, Khawaja had scored 3443 runs in 48 Tests, with an average of 45.30, with 11 centuries.
He was dropped from the team after the away Ashes series in 2019, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
He came back to the squad for the Ashes series in 2021-22 on the back of impressive performances in the Sheffield Shield, but was initially left out of the playing XI, as Australia persisted with Marcus Harris as David Warner’s opening partner and Travis Head in the middle order.
Promoted
However, he got an opportunity when Head was ruled out of the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground with COVID-19.
He made the most of the chance he got, hitting 137 in the first innings and an unbeaten 101 in the second.
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