'I still feel I am one of the top six batsmen in Australia' - Usman Khawaja after losing the contract for 2020-21 season

Usman Khawaja hasn't played for Australia since Ashes and World Cup in respective formats.

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Justin Langer and Usman Khawaja
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Justin Langer and Usman Khawaja. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Cricket Australia (CA), earlier this week, announced the list of annually contracted players for the 2020-21 season. Not surprisingly, Marnus Labuschagne was the newest inclusion to the charts but Usman Khawaja being axed shocked many. Not long ago, he was the premier batsman for Australia in the Tests and ODIs but has somehow fallen out of favour since the Ashes and the World Cup from the respective formats.

Khawaja has now opened up over him losing out on the contract and feels that he is still one of the top six best batsmen in Australia. He also claimed that his technique is better than everyone, bar Steve Smith, when it comes to playing against spin. Interestingly, it was due to the southpaw’s heroics that Australia had managed to draw a Test match in Dubai against Pakistan in 2018.

Usman Khawaja had batted for almost nine hours in the second innings for his 141 to help his team draw the Test match and stay alive in the series. “Without sounding arrogant, I still feel like I’m one of the top six batsmen in the country. My playing against spin has been right up there as some of the best in the county. Bar maybe Steve Smith, who is an absolute genius. But the most important thing is to score runs,” he said in an interview to Fox Sports.

Usman Khawaja shocked to see CA struggling financially

Cricket Australia is struggling financially at the moment due to the ongoing pandemic. Commenting on the same, Usman Khawaja expressed his shock and hoped that the board comes out of it soon. He also highlighted that there could be a little mismanagement on CA’s part somewhere which has led to this situation.

“I was very shocked. I knew our projections for revenue were still very high and I think they still are, depending on what happens with the India series. It’s a bit confusing. I don’t have all the financial information in front of me, but it seems like it’s more of a cash-flow problem at the moment. There’s obviously a little bit of mismanagement there somewhere, with the portfolio and putting a lot of money into the share market.

“To me, that’s Business 101. To make sure you have enough cash reserves if c**p hits the fan. So I’m a little bit disappointed on that front… but what’s been done is done now, so it’s just our responsibility as CA and ACA to work through this,” the 33-year-old added.

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