Australian batsman Usman Khawaja is ready to bat at any position in the upcoming four-match Test series against India after recovering from minor knee surgery that he sustained in the UAE.
On Thursday (November 22), Australia announced the 14-man squad for the first two Tests against India, starting from December 6 at the Adelaide Oval, and Khawaja is one of six specialist batsmen in the squad, including uncapped Marcus Harris.
While Harris is an automatic choice to open for Australia, Captain Tim Paine has already insisted that Aaron Finch deserves to play at the top of the order after impressive debut series against Pakistan, and Khawaja is likely to either to play as an opener or drop down to No.3, where he's batted 30 times in Test career.
Khawaja told reporters on Thursday, “I'm happy to bat wherever. I've said that to Painey. He (Harris) is obviously an opener. I expect him to open.”
The 31-year-old is all set to return to the field with a Sheffield Shield match for Queensland Bulls against Victoria since undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus that he injured while warming up during the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
However, the left-hander insisted that he is in a good state to play and wants to play for his state while targeting this game for his comeback ahead of the first Test against India.
Khawaja signed off by saying, “I'm fine right now. It's just about playing some cricket now. It's feeling alright at training. I've done as much as I can at training so hopefully, fingers crossed, it keeps going well. I've had a pretty high workload the last two weeks; batted, ran, fielded. Everything is going well thus far. I've had a few opportunities to possibly play other games that are going on this week but I really wanted to play Shield cricket. I want to play for my state.”
Australian Squad for first two Tests against India:
Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (c), Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain
(With cricket.com.au Inputs)
