Usman Khawaja

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Usman Khawaja

Personal information
Full name	Usman Tariq Khawaja
Born	18 December 1986 (age 29) Islamabad, Pakistan
Nickname	Uzzie
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Batting style	Left hand bat
Bowling style	Right arm medium
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut(cap 419)	3 January 2011 v England
Last Test	12 February 2016 v West Indies
ODI debut(cap 199)	11 January 2013 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI	27 March 2016 v India
ODI shirt no.	1
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2007–2012	New South Wales (squad no. 18)
2011–2012	Derbyshire
2011–present	Sydney Thunder (squad no. 18)
2012–present	Queensland
2014-2015	Lancashire
2016–present	Rising Pune Supergiants(squad no. 100)
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 15 5 96 61 Runs scored 1,090 108 6,303 2,563 Batting average 49.54 27.00 42.58 46.60 100s/50s 4/3 0/1 17/30 8/14 Top score 174 50 214 166 Balls bowled – – 150 – Wickets – – 1 – Bowling average – – 98.00 – 5 wickets in innings – – – – 10 wickets in match – n/a – n/a Best bowling – – 1/21 – Catches/stumpings 11/– 2/– 71/– 25/–
Source: Cricinfo, 24 February 2016

Usman Tariq Khawaja (Urdu: عثمان خواجہ‎; born 18 December 1986) is a Pakistani-born Australian cricketer.

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1Domestic career
• 2International career
• 3International centuries
  • 3.1Test centuries
• 4Personal life
• 5Career best performances
• 6References
• 7External links

Domestic career[edit]

Khawaja in 2011

A left-handed top order batsman, Khawaja was awarded Player of the Australian Under-19 Championship in 2005 and also played for Australia in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka as an opening batsman. His club side is Randwick Petersham Cricket Club.

He made his first class debut for the New South Wales Blues in 2008.^[2] In the same year, he hit consecutive double centuries for the NSW Second XI—a feat never before achieved by a NSW player.^[3] On 22 June 2010 it was announced by Cricket Australiathat Usman Khawaja would be a part of the Australian touring squad to play Pakistan in a two Test series in England.

Khawaja plays for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League since 2011. In BBL05, he was the second highest run scorer (345 runs) and averaged 172.50 runs per match.

Khawaja signed a contract to play for county side Derbyshire in the 2011 English domestic season.^[4] He played in four County Championship matches, averaging 39.87 with the bat and scoring a century (135) against Kent.^[5][6] After his county stint, he made five further Test appearances in 2011, scoring one half-century (65) against South Africa. He was dropped from Australia's Test team after the home series against New Zealand, making way for Shaun Marsh upon Marsh's return from injury.^[7]

Lancashire signed Khawaja as an overseas player for the 2014 county season for all formats. Khawaja scored 86 runs on his debut against Durham but in vain as Lancashire lost by 27 runs.

He plays his club cricket for Valley District Cricket Club in Brisbane.

International career[edit]

Khawaja was selected as part of the 17-man Australian squad for the 2010–11 Ashes series. During the third test, Ricky Ponting fractured his finger and Khawaja was named as a stand-by if Ponting could not recover in time. He was subsequently selected in the Australian cricket team to play England in the fifth Test against England in Sydney on 3 January 2011.^[8][9] On 3 January 2011, Khawaja became the 419th Australian to be presented with an Australian Cricket Test baggy green cap. Khawaja became the first Muslim and first Pakistani-born Australian player to play test cricket for Australia,^[10][11] and only the seventh foreign-born cricketer to do so in the last 80 years.^[12]

Before the 3rd Test against India in March 2013, Australia suspended Khawaja, along with James Pattinson, Shane Watsonand Mitchell Johnson following a breach of discipline.^[13] Michael Clarke, the captain, revealed that the step had been taken as a result of repeated infractions which led to Watson flying back home and contemplating Test retirement.^[14] Some former players reacted with astonishment at the decision taken by the team management.^[15] Khawaja made his Test return in the second Test of the 2013 Ashes series, replacing Ed Cowan.

In his first Test in more than two years, he scored his maiden Test century, in the first Test against New Zealand on 5 November 2015, in which he scored 174 with 16 fours and 2 sixes. He made this return in his 10th Test in the coveted number 3 position, helping Australia to an emphatic victory.^[16]

Since his return to Test cricket, Khawaja has scored 4 centuries in 6 matches.

He made his Twenty20 International debut for Australia against India on 31 January 2016.^[17]

During the 2015/2016 season, Khawaja has been in spectacular form for Australia and his domestic T20 franchise the Sydney Thunder, with many pundits hailing his renaissance as a batsman since being dropped from the Australian team in 2013 and recovering from an injury in 2015.

International centuries[edit]

Test centuries[edit]

Usman Khawaja's Test centuries
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	174	10	New Zealand	Brisbane, Australia	The Gabba	2015	Won[18]
2	121	11	New Zealand	Perth, Australia	WACA Ground	2015	Drawn[19]
3	144	12	West Indies	Melbourne, Australia	MCG	2015	Won[20]
4	140	14	New Zealand	Wellington, New Zealand	Basin Reserve	2016	Won[21]

Personal life[edit]

Khawaja was born in Islamabad, Pakistan, and his family emigrated to New South Wales when he was a child. He became the first Muslim cricketer to represent Australia when he made his debut in the 2010–11 Ashes series. He is a qualified commercial and instrument rated pilot, completing a bachelor's degree in Aviation from the University of New South Wales before he made his Test debut. He attained his basic pilot licence before his driving licence.^[22] He was educated at Westfields Sports High School.

Career best performances[edit]

	Batting
	Score	Fixture	Venue	Season
Test	174	Australia v New Zealand	The Gabba, Brisbane	2015/16 [23]
ODI	50	New Zealand v Australia	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	2015/16 [24]
T20I	58	Australia v Bangladesh	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore	2015/16 [25]
FC	214	South Australia v New South Wales	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	2010/11 [26]
LA	166	Queensland v Tasmania	North Sydney Oval, Sydney	2014/15 [27]
T20	109*	Melbourne Stars v Sydney Thunder	MCG, Melbourne	2015/16 [28]

References[edit]

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