Khawaja on track for first Test
USMAN Khawaja is making strong progress in his bid to play the first Test of the home summer but is staying out of the off-field politics that have sabotaged the Australian game.
A slimmed-down Khawaja, 10kg lighter than he was on the South Africa tour in March, is making a steady recovery from knee surgery after breaking down in the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
“The knee is going pretty well so far,’’ Khawaja said. “I ran at 100 per cent yesterday on the treadmill and will hopefully run outside tomorrow.
“In an ideal world I would play a Shield game before the first Test [against India in Adelaide from December 6]. That is the target but there are still three weeks until then.’’
Khawaja concedes Australian cricket is being buffeted by the winds of change which have seen a string of resignations and sackings including high performance boss Pat Howard.
“I got along with Pat. It is never a nice thing to see someone lose their job no matter who it is,” Khawaja said.
“It is a tough time for Australian cricket in some respects and hopefully things will smooth out sooner or later.
“There is obviously a lot of change going on in Australian cricket. As players we try to stay out of it ... all I care about is the team. I am not a part of that other stuff so it is hard for me to comment on what is going on.’’
Khawaja reasserted himself as a Test player with a careerdefining century last month against Pakistan.