Usman Khawaja joined a select group of cricketers by scoring back-to-back hundreds in the Sydney Test on Saturday, but he believes it will not be enough to preserve his spot in Australia’s lineup for the final Ashes match.
With his 137 and unbeaten 101, the stylish 35-year-old left-hander joined Australian batting legends Doug Walters and Ricky Ponting as the only players to make two centuries in a Sydney Test, though he admitted it would not be enough to keep his spot for the fifth Test in Hobart.
Usman Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan, was brought into the team solely to isolate Covid victim Travis Head, and he made the most of his chance with fairytale double centuries.
“To be totally honest, I’ve batted at number five in this Test match and it was a lot of fun. I got runs but you can’t really compare five to opening,” he said.
“It’s like apples and oranges. I know because I’ve done both of them.
“I came in here for Travis Head, he’s had a great series and I know the selectors have made a lot of tough decisions in this series and I don’t really expect it to be any different because I scored back-to-back tons.
“It’s just the way it is. All I’ve done is I’ve had an opportunity for Australia, scored some runs which I am grateful for.
“The hunger is still there. I’ve shown that I can still score runs at this level if an opportunity does present itself in the future.”
Apart from skipper Joe Root, the sluggish Khawaja has scored more runs in a single Test than all of England’s batters combined.
