Usman Khawaja reflected on his previous Ashes series and stated that England is a challenging batting environment for the top order. After the conclusion of the crucial World Test Championship (WTC) final beginning on June 7, England and Australia will engage in the anxiously awaited five-match Test series beginning on June 16.
Ahead of the series, the southpaw Usman Khawaja reflected on his previous tours to England and stated that he had always found the batting surface to be difficult for the top-order batsmen. Nonetheless, he added that the experiences have aided him in his learning trajectory and that it is best to have “low expectations.”
“In my opinion, England is the most difficult venue in the world for top-three batsmen to bat. In 2013, I was quite young and the tour was abysmal, if I’m being completely honest. It was arduous labor. I gained a great deal of knowledge from that excursion.
My last series there [in 2019] was difficult for batsmen,” Usman Khawaja was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
“The entire tour will demonstrate this, with the exception of Steven Smith, who was on another planet.” If I’ve learned anything, it’s to work hard, train hard, and have modest expectations when traveling to England. You will fail as a batsman, but when you do score, you should strive to capitalize as much as possible,” he continued.
Usman Khawaja Khawaja also discussed the possibility of facing the lethal tandem of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who are incredible bowlers. During a February match against New Zealand, the English tandem surpassed Australia’s Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath’s Test record of 1001 wickets as teammates. Khawaja added that it is satisfying’ to score runs against world-class bowlers like Anderson and Broad.
“Anderson and Broad…they are incredible bowlers and a challenge to begin with. This is what makes it so great when you score runs and contribute to a winning team, as I and others will presumably do over there. When you do it against Englishmen like Broad and Anderson, it’s that much more gratifying,” Khawaja added.