Hours after guiding Sydney Thunderto their maiden Big Bash League
(BBL) title, Usman Khawaja, the in-
form left-hander, received a double
blow, failing to make it to Australia's
squad for the One-Day International
(ODI) series against New Zealand,
announced on Monday (January 25),
as well missing out on the BBL team
of the tournament.
Khawaja, who scored a century on
return to international cricket
against New Zealand in Brisbane, has
averaged 141.5 across all formats
since the opening Test of the
summer and has passed 50 in each of
his last eight innings. Playing for the
Thunder side, the stylish left-hander
finished second on the run-scoring
charts, aggregating 345 runs from
just four games at an average of
172.50, the highest batting average
for a BBL campaign.
Steven Smith, Australia's ODI captain,
acknowledged Khawaja's
predicament earlier in the week,
saying the 29-year-old would have
to wait for his turn to break into
Australia's settled 50-over side. "It
looks tough. But Khawaja is batting
beautifully at the moment," Smith
said."He's certainly got the
capabilities to be able to play for
Australia in the limited-overs
formats.
"It's a very tough side to break into
at the moment. Obviously we're
playing very good cricket as it is but
I'm sure if he does get an
opportunity he'll take it with both
hands."
Big Bash League Official Team of
the Tournament : Chris Gayle, Luke
Wright, Chris Lynn, Michael Hussey
(c), Travis Head, Tim Paine (wk),
Andre Russell, Adil Rashid, Andrew
Tye, Samuel Badree, Shaun Tait
Australia's ODI Squad for NZ
series : Steven Smith (c), David
Warner, George Bailey, Scott Boland,
James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh
Hazlewood, John Hastings, Mitchell
Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell,
Mathew Wade, Kane Richardson,
Adam Zampa Double blow for in-form Usman Khawaja - Cricbuzz
