Shocking! Real reason Usman Khawaja was blocked from opening in Ashes opener revealed

In a surprising move, the veteran Australia National Cricket Team opening batsman Usman Khawaja was not allowed to open the innings for his side on Day 1 of the Ashes 2025-26 opener at the Perth Stadium.

This happened because Usman Khawaja took an ill-timed decision to leave the field during the first Test of the five-match series to get treatment for his back spasms.

“Toilet breaks and stretching” - CA on Usman Khawaja being off the field

During England's first innings with the bat on Day 1, Khawaja went off the field for a significant period of time as his teammate Mitchell Starc ran through the English batting line-up.

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This proved costly for him and Australia as he was blocked by the umpires from coming out to open the innings after the visitors were packed for 172.

As per the rules, a player needs to spend a certain time on the field before being allowed to bat or bowl, and in Usman Khawaja's case, he had to wait ten minutes before being allowed to walk out to bat.

In his absence, Jake Weatherald opened the innings with Marnus Labuschagne and fell for a second-ball duck. An early dismissal meant Khawaja couldn't come out to bat at No.3, and Steve Smith walked in the middle.

Cricket Australia (CA) also revealed a reason behind Usman Khawaja's absence from the field in the first innings, as they stated just “toilet breaks and stretching”

Poor management… Beyond a joke… - Tom Moody slams Usman Khawaja

The cricketer-turned-commentators Michael Vaughan, Michael Hussey, and Tom Moody shared their takes on the incident on-air with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) Director of Cricket bashing Khawaja.

“There’s certain time constraints he has to match to be able to open the batting,” Fox Cricket commentator Mark Howard said.

"Marnus (Labuschagne) is probably in Steve’s ear going ‘I don’t want to open’,” Michael Vaughan said.

"That was all the talking coming into the Test match – would Marnus open the batting? He was happy at number three,” Michael Hussey added.

“Poor management… Beyond a joke… like Starc led the attack we needed Uzzie to lead the batting,” Tom Moody said.

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Got on the wrong side of the timings - Pat Cummins

Khawaja eventually came out to bat at No.4 with fingers on both hands strongly taped and could only score 2 runs before falling to Brydon Carse.

In another update, Cricket Australia (CA) stated that Usman Khawaja was battling a back stiffness and was stretching to overcome spasms.

"Battled back stiffness through the day; had a back spasm the second time he left the field; was stretching to overcome the spasm; unfortunate timing due to the manner of how the innings ended; did not have an injury prior to today," Cricket Australia stated.

Meanwhile, Pat Cummins revealed that the veteran opener was fully fit heading into the match. He stated:

"Got on the wrong side of the timings, few quick ones at the end kind of meant that he couldn’t bat, missed it by a few minutes. No, he was all fine, 100 per cent fit."

Pat Cummins on Uzzie: “Got on the wrong side of the timings, few quick ones at the end kind of meant that he couldn’t bat, missed it by a few minutes.”

Pat added “no, he was all fine, 100 per cent fit” coming into the Test match. https://t.co/xKPvcNwy4D

— Ben Cameron (@BenCameron23) November 21, 2025