Australian head coach Justin Langer has admitted that Usman Khawaja remains in the national selectors' reckoning, but made it clear that he must outperform either Steve Smith or David Warner to get back into the white-ball side.
Langer’s comments came after the 33-year-old was left out of Australia’s squad for the limited-overs tour of England next month. Khawaja was a mainstay of Australia's white-ball batting at No.3 until the 2019 ICC World Cup and eventually lost his place after being dropped from the Ashes tour last year.
While white-ball captain Aaron Finch is a firm starter alongside Warner for the opening role, with Smith locked in at No.3 followed by the emerging star Marnus Labuschagne and the head coach said the wealth of talent currently available blocks the way for the veteran batsman.
Langer said: “The way we're going to set up our game plan at the moment, Uzzie (Khawaja) is competing with David Warner, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith at the top of the order. At the moment, our view is those guys are getting the nod ahead of him and that's why he missed out.”
He further added: “Marnus is a bit different, he's batting at number four and got a hundred in his last game (against South Africa in March) and he's had an incredible twelve months. Ultimately Uzzie is competing against those top three at the moment and that’s why he’s missed out.
I’m a massive fan of Usman Khawaja, he knows that and I’ve said that over and over. He had an incredible year last year in white-ball cricket, but unfortunately, he has two guys in Steve Smith and David Warner who are coming back into the team and they have the spot at the moment.”
On D'Arcy Short’s exclusion, Langer clarified: “Maxwell has taken D'Arcy's spot mainly because we feel more confident getting overs out of Maxwell at the moment than we do out of Shorty in the middle overs. But it just goes to show what depth we've got when we're leaving Usman, D'Arcy, and guys like Travis Head at home.”
Noteworthy, Australia is set to play three Twenty20 Internationals and three one-day internationals next month in bio-secure venues on their England tour.
(With AFP Inputs)
