Usman Khawaja has come out in defence of his opening partner-to-be, Nathan McSweeney, over the ongoing strike rate debate. Khawaja has called the need to accelerate at the top of the order in Test cricket a “myth”.
The southpaw is of the opinion that the role of an opener in the red-ball format is to also “absorb” while scoring runs. He feels that since Test cricket is played over a span of five days, a batter can take his time and capitalize once set.
“I don’t know where this myth started that you need someone to score really fast to do well,” Khawaja was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “You’ve got five days to do it…I don’t know why you need to score fast.
“Opening’s as much about scoring runs as it is about being able to absorb. Davey was special; he could score runs while absorbing but he didn’t do it (score fast) every time. He was consistent; out there and setting a platform, and Nathan does that very well.”
Khawaja also shared a piece of advice for McSweeney who is all set to make his Test debut after impressing the selectors at the first-class level.
“There’s no guarantees in cricket…but he doesn’t have to do anything different,” Khawaja mentioned. “Just repeat the process. He’s been able to handle the pressure at Shield level. When you look at his demeanour, the way he plays, you do kind of feel over a longer period of time he’ll be able to handle the scrutiny, the pressure of Test cricket.”
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy:
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed
Australia’s squad for the 1st Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy:
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc