I think personally ODI cricket is dying a slow death: Usman Khawaja

Australian batter Usman Khawaja reckons that ODI cricket is “dying” while he believes that Test cricket still has a very ‘strong presence.’ He said that ODI is third-ranked among all the formats, adding that it is going through a ‘slow death.’ He confessed that it is tough to be an all-format player although it is not impossible.

The Australian opener highlighted all the travel away from home that is expected of an all-format player. He admitted that, other than the ODI World Cup, which he thinks is enjoyable, he is not into One-Day cricket as much as the other two formats in international cricket. 

“I feel like that’s (ODI) probably the third-ranked out of all of them,” Khawaja was quoted saying by ESPN Cricinfo. “I think personally one-day cricket is dying a slow death, there’s still the World Cup, which I think is really fun and it’s enjoyable to watch, but other than that, even myself personally, I’m probably not into one-day cricket as much either.”

I don’t really see Test cricket going anywhere: Usman Khawaja

“Not impossible, very tough,” Khawaja said. “So much travelling. If you’re playing all three forms of the game, you’re not at home at all really. And then the demands on your body, mentally, physically and a lot of the guys might be playing also the IPL.”

Khawaja has been one of the regular members of Australia’s Test squad over the last decade or so. He made his Australia debut against England in January 2011 in Sydney and has appeared in 51 Test matches, 40 ODIs and nine T20Is. 

He was also part of Australia’s 2019 World Cup squad, held in England. Khawaja has scored 5,570 runs for the Men in Yellow across formats at an average of 44.20 with 14 hundreds and 30 fifties and a top score of 174.

“The majority of people I talk to still love Test cricket,” said the 35-year-old. “It’s my favourite format. Think Test cricket still has a very strong presence so don’t really see that going anywhere. Think both [Tests and T20] can be quite easily balanced, but then you ask yourself the question does one-day cricket give.”