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IND v AUS 2020: Usman Khawaja surprised by his ODI omission after prolific year

IND v AUS 2020: Usman Khawaja surprised by his ODI omission after prolific year

Khawaja was omitted for the three-match ODI tour of India next month.

Khawaja was in brilliant form with the bat in ODI cricket | Getty Images

Veteran batsman Usman Khawaja was surprised by his omission from Australia’s one-day squad for the upcoming tour of India next month despite being the team's second-highest run-scorer in 2019.

After being excluded from the Test side during the Ashes 2019, Khawaja failed to make it to the national squad for the Pakistan and New Zealand home series after a lean start to the current Sheffield Shield season and now lost his place from ODI squad as well.

He had been in the stunning form with the bat this year with 1085 ODI runs at 49.31 to finish as the sixth-highest scorer overall in the format.

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Khawaja told media after making 66 in the Sydney Thunder's victory over Melbourne Renegades in the ongoing BBL 09, “In all honesty I wasn't expecting to be dropped. Normally when you're getting dropped, you feel like there's a chance. When I was at the Ashes over there, I thought, 'there's a chance [of getting dropped] here.' You sort of see it coming.”

The Aussie added, “I didn't really see this one coming. It took me by a little bit of shock. They can't really tell me to score more runs because I'm one of the highest run-scorers in international cricket.”

He signed off by saying, “I scored plenty of runs and did plenty well when I came back here, so I don't think there was too much they could say, and there wasn't too much I wanted to say back to them. It's disappointing; I copped it on the chin and I'm just looking forward to playing for Thunder now.”

(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 21 Dec, 2019

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