Radical rebirth of a cool cat

IT’S amazing what sportsmen can achieve when they think it’s all over.

Age 35. Dumped from the Cricket Australia contract list. Batting down the list for Queensland.

“No problems,’’ thought Usman Khawaja. “I’ll just get on playing for Queensland and being a new dad. Happy days.’’

Then, suddenly, years of pent-up tension melted and he became a lighter man.

The stress over tight selection calls was gone. The politics, the pushes and the pecking orders all faded into the horizon.

With all the distractions gone, a cool clarity appeared that has propelled him all the way to SCG glory.

It was fitting that Khawaja’s century included one sumptuously timed reverse sweep, because that quirky stroke says everything about the man and his journey.

Cheeky, unconventional, going the other way to which you are supposed to ... that is the reverse sweep and that’s Khawaja.

It’s the perfect shot for a man who regularly asks of cricket’s crusty traditions, “so why do we do it this way?’’

The remaking of Khawaja as a batsman has been an interesting affair in which one of cricket’s coolest cats had to be prepared to look anything but.

Knowing he had to remodel his game against spin a few years ago, Khawaja went to the nets to learn the reverse sweep, and for a while balls flew in all sorts of crazy directions.

It wasn’t pretty. Khawaja, normally so soft on the eye, said that for a while he “felt like an idiot’’. But he got there.

It was a major step forward because it was also a man getting out of his own road and realising he had to get down and dirty to improve himself.

The fluent way in which he played English spinner Jack Leach at the SCG was in stark contrast to the issues he had with another English spinner Graeme Swann early in his career.

It took Khawaja a long time to find himself as a person. There are many players of Asian heritage coming through the system now but Khawaja well remembers when it felt as if it was just him.

He was constantly told as a young player that he would struggle to succeed in what was essentially a white man’s game.

During an interview with the Nine Network a few months ago, he even said there were times as a youngster he wished he had white skin. As a non-drinker in a big-drinking game, he at times felt like the odd man out.

It weighed heavily on him and is why he is a staunch campaigner for more multiculturalism in cricket.

A few years ago, Khawaja decided just to be himself. He loves the showmanship of American sport and his highstepping celebration after making three figures was very much from the American sports playbook.

Khawaja grew up a couple of streets away from the SCG and used to watch sessions after tea when admission was free.

Much has been made of Scott Boland’s MCG heroics and what it might do for Indigenous cricketers, but Khawaja’s message is just as powerful for the many players of Asian heritage.

Khawaja could become a vital ally for new captain Pat Cummins, for every skipper needs a bold voice that is brave enough to tell you things you don’t really want to hear.