Australia’s Usman Khawaja who seemed to be out of touch played a wonderful knock of 88 off 128 deliveries to help Australia post 243-9 against Kane Williamson’s New Zealand at Lord’s on Saturday (June 29).

Australia is scheduled to take the field against the Proteas in the final league stage game of World Cup 2019 at Old Trafford in Manchester on Saturday (July 6).

When asked about the final league stage game of Australia who has already qualified for the semis against the Proteas who are out of the race to semis being a dead rubber, Khawaja said, “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.”

While talking to media about the spectacular knock, the southpaw said, “I tried to drive a couple and (the ball) hit the stickers and hit high on the bat, so straight away I knew it wouldn't be as nice as some of the other wickets we played on. Then it was just trying to stay in there and score runs.”

“I was just trying to bat out there and take it as deep as possible. I would much rather bat on a nicer wicket and score more freely. I'm in the team to score runs,” Khawaja added.

When asked about the performance of underdogs Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the 32-year-old born in Islamabad 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.”

The Aussies will be looking to win and stay on top of the table whereas the Proteas will be looking to finish their World Cup campaign on a high. Hence it will be interesting to see which team comes out to be on top on Saturday.

(With news18 inputs)