Australian head coach Justin Langer is hoping to see his senior most batsman Usman Khawaja in his old touch with the willow in the upcoming home two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, starting from Thursday (January 24) at the Brisbane Cricket Ground.

The 32-year-old is currently struggling to find his form with the bat even at home, as the left-hander has managed a top score of 72 for Australia this summer across Tests and One Day Internationals, and even has only two scores higher than 34 in his seven outings against India.

Khawaja has been continuously failing to impress since his 141 and 81 against Pakistan in October last year and struggling to find his form since suffering a meniscal tear in his left knee in the UAE.

While Langer on Tuesday (January 22) revealed that Khawaja is aware he is out of form and even he is working hard on the things, but Coach stressed that the veteran batsman must score a "great hundred" against Sri Lanka, as the Aussies are looking to bounce back from a crushing loss to India.

The coach further went on to insist that Khawaja is in his best physical condition at the moment, but Australia badly needs him to stand up against Sri Lanka.  

Langer told SEN Radio, “I had a good hit with him yesterday actually in the nets up here at Allan Border Field in Brisbane. He admitted he's been frustrated. But he seems fine.”

The coach added, "He's had some good starts against the white ball and Test cricket (but hasn't converted them). I can't help but think, we didn't rush him back, but he had that knee injury after the UAE and he's just finding his feet again."

He signed off by saying, “He's in the best physical condition of his life, he's training hard, he's playing well, but that's often the way in Test cricket. We need him to stand up. He knows that he's our most senior batsman. He needs and we need him to turn some of those great starts into hundreds for us.”

(With SEN Radio Inputs)