Usman Khawaja has lately shown signs of regression.
Usman Khawaja is in a precarious position in his international career. The back injury, which forced him to miss the second Ashes 2025 Test, couldn’t have resurfaced at a worse time than now. He didn’t open in the first game either, after being off the field during the bowling innings.
However, Khawaja is fit again and will be available for selection for the third fixture in Adelaide. Now the question is whether Australia can fit him in the XI. This question wouldn’t have come before the Perth Test, given their overall opening resources, but dynamics have changed drastically since then.
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When Usman Khawaja was unavailable for opening in the first Test, Australia slotted Marnus Labuschagne at the top with Jake Weatherald, who was making his debut. The move didn’t work initially, as both registered low scores. However, in the next innings, Travis Head opened with Weatherald, and what followed was carnage.
Head played a knock for the ages, while Weatherald also looked good for his 23. Once Khawaja was ruled out for the second Test, Australia continued with the same pair and found encouraging results. Head again looked decent and continued with his ultra-aggressive approach, but Weatherald’s returns pleased the team more.
He registered scores of 72 & 17* across two innings and was among the best batters in the fixture. Like Head, Weatherald was also aggressive with his approach and pounced on every run-scoring opportunity to negate the threat bowlers brought. That surely sealed his place for the remaining games of the rubber, especially since opening resources are bleak, and those grabbing the chances must get a longer rope.
Australia’s opening resources might be at an all-time low, but Usman Khawaja might still not be required. Not because others performed in his absence, but his own form has been far from reasonable. Since 2024, Khawaja has 878 runs at an average of 30.27 in 32 innings, including two fifties and a century.
That poor average looks inflated on the back of a mammoth double ton in Sri Lanka; removing that reduces his average to 23.07. At home, he has averaged only 24.80, which shows a bigger issue. The pitches in Australia have been extreme for batters, and Khawaja’s orthodox methods haven’t worked.
Given how tracks have been, he is unlikely to succeed in home matches or outside Australia. Weatherald showed more counterattacking skills and took his chances to keep the scoreboard moving, the ideal way to bat on such surfaces. Then, at almost 39, his reflexes have obviously regressed, and he will always be late in countering movement off the pitch.
Additionally, Head has shown his skills as a Test opener and never really looked out of position in the three innings he opened in the ongoing Ashes 2025. His methods are more effective for the surfaces offered, and he should get a longer rope as an opener after that marvellous knock in Perth. In short, Australia have found an ideal opening pair, for now at least.
If Australia don’t want to tinker with the opening combination now, they can slot Usman Khawaja in the middle order, where Head batted initially. However, Khawaja’s issues will remain the same, and he has hardly batted in the middle order in his Test career. Only 4.57% of his total Test innings have come outside the top three.
Additionally, Josh Inglis brings attacking skill sets and has shown decent improvement as a red-ball batter. He notched up his maiden Test century in Sri Lanka earlier this year and recently hit a counterattacking 125 against England Lions. Both innings came at over 100 strike rate: the former in the middle order, and the latter while opening.
So, Inglis brings more flexibility and a higher success probability than Khawaja, at least in the middle order. He is also a long-term investment with the ability to do Head’s role at No.5. Khawaja brings neither.
Another aspect that Khawaja has been highly rated for is his spin ability, which has fetched him ample success in sub-continent conditions. But with pitches becoming extreme, at least in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, he won’t be as successful, especially with his skills on the wane. His usual technique is unlikely to work now, and Australia will play seven matches in India and Bangladesh in the ongoing WTC cycle.
So, future planning must be based on it, and Josh Inglis is better suited for the role. Khawaja was, anyway, not going to stick around longer, given his recent form and age, and the Ashes 2025 has surely given more clarity on what Australia’s future batting lineup should look like. Maybe Usman Khawaja doesn’t fit in the setup anymore and might have played his last Test already.
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