Documentary Reveals Stunning Confrontation Between Justin Langer And Usman Khawaja

A new documentary has revealed a heated confrontation between Australian coach Justin Langer and batsman Usman Khawaja, in the lead-up to a Test against Pakistan in 2018. The incident took place when Australia visited the UAE in October 2018 for the series.

It was Australia’s first Test series under Justin Langer’s coaching and also the first since the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa earlier that year. With both Steve Smith and David Warner suspended, Khawaja was one of the most experienced players in the team as the likes of Aaron Finch, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne made their debut in the first Test.

But even before the Test started, Usman Khawaja and Justin Langer were involved in a heated discussion. It all happened because of a particular instruction from the Australia coach at a net session. The former Australia batsman insisted batsmen rotate between nets each time they were dismissed, despite acknowledging that “I know it pisses you off.”

When the coach asked for feedback from the team after the session, Usman Khawaja was the first to speak, and as Amazon Prime’s The Test reveals, things got heated between player and coach.

“I think we were more worried about getting out than actually trying to execute better and execute well,” said Khawaja.

Unimpressed with the comments, an angry Justin Langer hit back by saying: “Yeah well what happens when you get out in a game?”

“If I’m getting out two times in the nets, I know I’m getting out two times in the nets. I’m playing f—ing Test cricket here,” said Khawaja. “I’m worried about harping too much on negatives”

Justin Langer then pointed out Australia’s poor batting performance to back his point, saying:  “Well don’t get out. What we are saying, is we’re not going to accept you getting out, because for the last 20 times in Australian cricket, we’ve had 20 batting collapses. 20 f—ing batting collapses. We’ve got to get better at it.

“It’s got nothing to do with how we setup the net session, because the Pakistanis, they might put 10 blokes around you. This isn’t f—ing fair. Or they might put 10 blokes on the boundary. Oh this isn’t going to suit my f—ing style. You’ve got to deal with it.

“You’ve got to deal with it in Test cricket. So we’re going to put pressure on you. Now if you guys want to say, ‘This isn’t suiting my f—ing style,’ no worries. It will suit your style when we don’t have f—ing 20 batting collapses every time we play for Australia,” he added.

Khawaja had gone on to star with the bat for Australia in that series, helping the team escape with a morale-boosting draw. However, just months later he lost his place in Test side after a poor home series against India and the Ashes.

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