SYDNEY – Usman Khawaja will have some very big boots to fill when he makes his debut for Australia in the fifth Ashes test next week but the 24-year-old is more concerned about making the most of his call up to the national side.
The free-scoring, fast-quipping, guitar-playing, blog-savvy lefthander was named in Australia’s 12-man squad for the Sydney test on Thursday and is almost certain to replace injured captain Ricky Ponting in the top order.
“I’m not really here to fill Ricky Ponting’s shoes, I’m there to go out and do as well as possible and put my team in the best place possible and that means score runs,” he told reporters on Thursday. “Other than that, there’s not really much more that I can do than just enjoy my cricket. To replace 12,000 runs, that’s a big feat and I still haven’t scored any so I’d better go out and score my first one first.”
“Me taking over Ricky’s place? I highly doubt that. I’m just happy to get the opportunity while he’s unfortunately injured and hopefully we can get out there and level the series.” Born in Pakistan to a cricket-enthusiast father who subsequently took his family to Australia, Khawaja has been accumulating runs since making his debut for New South Wales two years ago and boasts a first class average of 51.7.
