Australia batter Usman Khawaja reiterated that he is not hopeful of finding a spot in the playing XI for the 5th Ashes Test despite shining on his comeback Test with twin hundreds in the Sydney Cricket Ground in the ongoing 4th Test against England.
Khawaja’s dream comeback has posed a selection headache for Australia as Head will be available for selection for the 5th Test. The veteran batter, who had said on Wednesday that he is living the Australian dream but is not hopeful of getting picked for the 5th Test, maintained his stance.
“At the moment I’m not really expecting to play the next test match, but I’ll always be ready for whatever happens,” Khawaja said on Saturday.
“Who knows, someone else might get COVID, something might happen. You got to stay ready.”
Khawaja said stability in selection is something that every cricketer loves but revealed that he has had some wonderful conversations with the selectors who have been transparent about his place in the Test side.
“Once you get selected for Australia, I think you should get a fair crack at it for a while. You put all that hard effort to get up there and to be selected.”
“I’ve been on both sides. I’ve been dropped and picked and dropped and picked. I really enjoyed the process and the conversations the selectors had with the players,” he added.
The record successful fourth innings chase at the SCG is 288 runs, which was achieved by Ponting’s Australia in the same 2006 test against South Africa.
