KING USMAN’S ON MARCH
AN emotional Usman Khawaja said he was “living the Australian dream” after becoming overwhelmed by the hero ovation he was given as the SCG’s comeback king.
The son of Pakistani migrants, Khawaja’s fairytale century on Thursday has booked him a dream ticket back to the country of his birth to represent Australia in March, two-and-a-half years after it seemed he had played his last Test.
Written off by selectors after he was axed during the 2019 Ashes, Khawaja (137 off 260 balls) used a marching celebration invented by NBA superstar LeBron James known as “The Silencer” to answer his critics once and for all and provide a lesson in persistence and “letting go”.
Khawaja’s first Test in twoand-a-half years only came as a stand-in for Covid-hit Travis Head, but after emphatically stepping up to produce a brilliant ninth Test century and only the third hundred by any batsman this Ashes, the question now is, how does Australia leave him out for next week’s series finale in Hobart?
Australia declared at 8-416 before England clambered to 0-13 at stumps.
The 24,855 at the SCG’s heartfelt investment in Khawaja was best summed up by them giving Pat Cummins the first booing experience of his career, for daring to rob the boy who grew up a stone’s throw away from the ground of the strike when he was stuck on 99 an over before tea.
“They were booing him, in my head I was booing him too,” Khawaja said.
“When he took the single, (I said), ‘Patty, what are you doing, you’re killing me’.
“My parents still live in Parramatta … I still have a lot of connections to Sydney in a lot of respects. I’m a Queenslander now … but I don’t forget where I come from.
“I never have.
“The SCG. Honestly, it was the most touching, humbling, amazing feeling out there today getting that hundred and the roar that went up and chanting ‘Uzzie’ … it’s stuff you dream of. I never expected that to happen. To have that, it was unbelievable. They talk about the American Dream, I call it the Australian Dream.
“I joke about it, but I’m quite serious. I’m living the Australian dream.
“My parents came over here from Pakistan to give me and my family a better life. They’ve come all the way out here and I’m representing Australia in the national sport.
“I’ve gone through a lot of hard times, broken down a lot of barriers to get to where I am right now and I think at some level people can relate to that and they can see it, and I love them for it.
“The love I got out here today is something special and something I’ll never forget.”
Khawaja’s ton guarantees he will be a part of Australia’s Test tour of Pakistan. Khawaja said he expected to be dropped for the fifth and final Ashes Test in Hobart – a decision he said he agreed with, because he believes in the importance of recognising the pecking order of Head coming back in.
But Khawaja was emotional thinking about how the door was open for him to play in his country of birth, aged 35.
“It would be pretty cool, it would be … unbelievable,” he said. “I’ve put a lot of hard work in. A lot of time behind the scenes that people don’t see. I have a lot of support from my family, my parents and in particular my wife Rachel.
“You never take anything for granted. I was never really sure if I was going to represent Australia again, let alone score a hundred for Australia.”