Usman Khawaja expected to miss birth of second child to feature in historic Pakistan tour

Usman Khawaja has been included in Australia’s 18-man squad for the three-match Test series against Pakistan in March and lately, it has been reported that he has decided to give more weightage to the upcoming bilateral series by sacrificing personally i.e. to spend time with his family for the birth of his second child. Meanwhile, this will also be a historic tour for the Aussies as they would be traveling to Pakistan for the first time since 1998.

Meanwhile, Khawaja has said that his wife is really supportive and at the same time also knows how much the game means to him. He also mentioned that he will need to work really hard in order to make it to the Australian Test team. Australia would be pumped up to have the Pakistan-born cricketer in their ranks who had scored a century in both innings of the SCG Test match of the Ashes series against arch-rivals England last month.

My wife knows I love playing cricket: Usman Khawaja

“She’s very understanding. She knows I love playing cricket, it’s very important to me, she’s very supportive of that, and she knows I try to support her any way I can”, said Usman Khawaja as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

“It’s going to take me a lot to come back, it is Test cricket for Australia. I’m sort of not thinking about it because I don’t want it to happen, but ask me if it does happen,” he added.

Senior pacer Pat Cummins would be leading the Aussies in the Test series whereas, batting mainstay Steve Smith has been named his deputy. The current top-ranked Test side would be visiting the neighboring country for an all-format bilateral series in March that includes three Tests, as many ODIs, and a one-off T20I.

The Test series would be played at different venues. The first one will be played on March 4 at Rawalpindi, while the second game will be played in Karachi on the 12th with the third and final Test scheduled to be held at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium between 21 to 25. The three ODIs will be played at Rawalpindi cricket stadium on March 29, 31, and April 2 whereas the final leg of the tour i.e. the only T20I would be contested at the same venue on April 5.