The Ashes: Usman Khawaja Injures Himself After an Awkward Slide on the First Day

The opening day of the 5^th and the final Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground saw an awkward slide in the deep from Usman Khawaja which forced the southpaw to leave the field in the final session of the opening day’s play of the final Malegan Ashes Test.

The incident happened during the 56^th over of the innings when Khawaja took off for a chase to well-struck cover drive from Dawid Malan from the bowling of off-spinner Nathan Luon. Just at the moment, Khawaja reached the ball; he put in a slide to cover the ball and scoop it back in one motion. However, his knee got stuck into the wet SCG outfield which led to his injury.

As the ball hit the boundary ropes, Khawaja laid down in the turf before getting back to his feet in few moments. He then hobbled back to the center where his teammates had gathered for drinks. The southpaw limped off the field with a medical staff of Cricket South Africa and stayed in the dressing room as play resumed.

Khawaja’s career has been consistently troubled by injuries. He suffered a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee where he had suffered a freak accident while playing for the Sydney Thunder in BBL 2014. Khawaja returned eight months later to skip the Australia A side on their tour of India in July-August.

Australia XI: David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

England XI: Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Joe Root (c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Mason Crane

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