Australia’s Usman Khawaja, along with Alex Carey, played a big role in their team posting a defendable total against New Zealand in their last ICC World Cup game at Lord’s on Saturday (June 29). Khawaja’s 88 off 129 balls was his second half-century of the tournament and the southpaw now believes that Australia can finish the league stages at the top of the points table.
With India losing their first match of the World Cup against England on Sunday (June 30), Australia can secure top spot on the standings with a win in their final group-stage game against South Africa at Old Trafford this weekend.
Faf du Plessis’ side are out of semi-finals contention having managed just two wins from their first eight games, with their struggles coming as something of a shock to Khawaja.
“They’ve got class batsmen in Amla and du Plessis batted wonderfully (against Sri Lanka),” Khawaja said.
“You can never take them too lightly, you can never take any international team too lightly … if you do it bites you on the backside. People talk about Bangladesh, I don’t think they are the same Bangladesh they were four years ago, I think they are a really good side. And Afghanistan, they’re definitely not the same Afghanistan side from four years ago.
“No international game is (a dead rubber). You’re representing your country, it’s still a game for Australia and still a World Cup game,” he added.
