Veteran Australian batter Usman Khawaja revealed that he encouraged his captain Pat Cummins to declare the second innings of the third and final Test against South Africa when he was just 5 runs away from completing his double century at the SCG.
Khawaja was on song with the bat in the recent pink ball test, where he scored 195* off 368 balls, before Cummins decided to declare Australia’s innings against South Africa at the SCG. It led to heavy criticism from the fans, but the opener said that it was his own call.
After the third Test ended in a draw and Australia clinched the three-match Test series with a 2-0 margin, Khawaja explained how the entire situation unfolded at the SCG.
Usman Khawaja told Sen Radio: “I could sort of feel it off Patty, you can sort walk past and sense this awkward tension and I was like, ‘Yeah, I know what he’s thinking’. But it was alright, I actually made the effort, I went up to him and said, ‘Mate, do whatever you need to, don’t worry about me, you’ve got to try and win a Test match, we’ve all got to try and win a Test match’.”
He further explained, “What kind of teammate would I be if we weren’t trying to do that? I was putting myself in front of him and said, ‘Just take the emotion out of it’, he was like, ‘I appreciate that’, so it was fine. The rain just kept cooking me. I really could have tried to get that 200 the night before if I really wanted to. But, obviously having no idea I thought, ‘It’s Day 2, I’ve got tomorrow, I could get 400 here if I’m good enough, you’ve got all day tomorrow’.
I wasn’t thinking about it at all but then it rained all day on Day 3, and I thought, ‘That’s not ideal’. Then I thought, ‘Morning of Day 4, I’ll get it then’, but then on the morning of Day 4, it just started raining again. Then I was like, ‘I know Pat wants to bowl and we want to win the Test match’. They were taking the covers off and there was a little muddy patch on the wicket and I’m like, ‘Nothing’s going my way here, if we don’t start soon, I’m in trouble’.”
He concluded, “I could just read the room. I think if it went and rained again most of that day and we went into Day 5 I think Patty might have been like, ‘Let’s just bat boys, we can’t win this game’. But it finished at a time when we could have won the game, it was just unfortunate timing, to be honest.”
The match turned out to be a draw with Australia still needing eight South African wickets on the final day. Khawaja was named the Man of the Match for his knock.
(SEN Radio/Indian Express inputs)
