speaking to reporters at the SCG on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\nHe added with a smile: \u201cHe hates us for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Look at me now and you can do the same” | 00:51<\/p>\n
Khawaja got an opportunity to rectify his underwhelming Test record in Asia the following year, picked as an opener for Australia\u2019s two-match series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
Before the match, coach Justin Langer gave the Queenslander some words of encouragement that resonated deeply with the left-hander.<\/p>\n
\u201cJL is the one guy who actually gave me hope and love at that time,\u201d Khawaja recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Uzzie, go out there. I believe you. I\u2019ve seen you play spin in Australia. You can do it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved JL for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the series opener in Dubai, Khawaja top-scored in both innings with a gritty 85 and a marathon 141, where he soaked up 302 deliveries and batted for 522 minutes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s often flagged as the best performance of his Test career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI batted for 11 hours on literally the hottest day,\u201d Khawaja said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the hottest place, concrete jungle. It was about 40 degrees, 80 per cent humidity in Dubai at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was relentless, and I just had to fight for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khawaja\u2019s Dubai masterclass was headlined by an assortment of reverse sweeps, a stroke that was previously frowned upon. He claimed that he made the shot \u201cpart of Australian cricket\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreviously you played the reverse sweep, and you got out and Test cricket, and you got crucified,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n
‘I hope I inspired kids along the way’ | 50:11<\/p>\n
The 2018 series against Pakistan proved a turning point in Khawaja\u2019s Test career. From then on, he averaged 82.77 across 13 matches in the subcontinent, cracking five hundreds, including a career-best 232 against Sri Lanka in Galla last year.<\/p>\n
Only four Australians have accumulated more Test runs in Asia than Khawaja \u2013 Steve Smith, Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Matthew Hayden.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo actually show everyone that I could bat in those conditions, and then end up being one of the greatest players to be able to play in the subcontinent \u2026 it\u2019s pretty special,\u201d Khawaja said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be from where I was, a guy who can\u2019t play spin in the subcontinent, to having the best average out of the top five players to score most runs in the subcontinent is very special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Khawaja will never agree with his 2017 axing, Smith considered it a blessing in disguise for the Queenslander. It forced him to work out a different method for batting in the subcontinent, which undeniably paid dividends during the second half of his international career.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got that opportunity to go back and figure out ways to play,\u201d Smith explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether he would have done that had he kept playing, I\u2019m not sure, but he went back and found some different methods to defend spin.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was reversing, sweeping, a mode of defence in a way when you put the field out. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s arguably one of our best players of spin now, so maybe a blessing in disguise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith added with a giggle: \u201cShame he\u2019s gone, now I\u2019m the oldest one here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fifth and final Ashes Test between Australia and England, Khawaja\u2019s last international appearance, gets underway at the SCG on Sunday at 10.30am AEDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Usman Khawaja was dropped eight times across his 15-year Test career. They all hurt at the time, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-388480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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