Islamabad
Australian batsman and Queensland’s Skipper, Usman Khawaja wishes to get back to his birthplace, Pakistan, to feature in the Country’s Super League (PSL).
Despite a stunning six-month period in 2019 that reaped 1,085 One Day International (ODI) runs at 49.31, Khawaja has since found himself absent from Australia’s 50-over squad, beginning with tours to India (January) and South Africa (February-March), and more recently when he was omitted from an extended 21-man playing group for the current white-ball tour of the United Kingdom.
The 33-year-old, who was born in Islamabad in 1986, has indicated that he would love to explore option of becoming a Twenty20 gun for hire once his first-class and international playing days were behind him.
“There was a bigger squad (for the UK white-ball tour) so it was a little bit disappointing not to be in the team, but I mean I’ve been dropped and in and out of teams so many times that I’ve just learned to deal with it, much better than I would’ve say 10 years ago,” Khawaja told cricket. He said there were lots of competitions around the world which he has not played in yet.
“I’ve played Indian Premier League (IPL), and T20 cricket in England, but I haven’t played CPL (Caribbean Premier League) or even PSL yet, which would be nice to do,” he said.
Khawaja, who has represented Australia in 44 Tests, 40 ODIs, and 9 T20s, scoring 4682 runs, said he has a great amount of following in Pakistan and would like to come and meet those people.
“Pakistan is obviously where my family is from, it’s where I was born and I’d love to get back there one day. I haven’t been there for 11, 12 years so I’d like to tick that off the bucket list, too. I’ve got a lot of support in Pakistan and it’d be nice to go back and see and meet some of those people,” he said.—APP
