Born in Islamabad, Pakistan, Khawaja emigrated to Australia – one cricket-mad country to another – at the age of five. And since then, his life has revolved around serving the Aussies in cricket, albeit at any level. He started his early career with New South Wales and eventually played for the seniors just three years after making his first division debut in 2008. It was natural that he was full of emotions making the decision.
“It was hard, I just wanted to tell everyone. I just told my teammates. I didn’t think I would get emotional, but I immediately burst into tears and had to control myself. I was finally able to stay calm and said what I wanted to say. I never thought I would be the guy who would cry when he retired, but I cried right away. It just shows what it means to me,” Khawaja told the media.
“My journey has been different to many cricketers in the Australian cricket team. All those emotions were piling up. I just want to be remembered as a humble cricketer who went out and enjoyed himself, and (that) people enjoyed watching,” he said.
Despite being a hallmark for Australia in all three formats, Khawaja’s true resurgence came to light as a red-ball cricketer. He has scored more than 6,000 runs in Test match cricket and has 16 centuries with an average north of 43. With the upcoming match being his last, he certainly wouldn’t mind making it 17 hundreds and going into his second innings with a happy ending to his first.
Get every cricket update! Follow us:
#Ashes #Usman #Khawaja #confirms #retirement #Years #Test #CricTracker