Shane Warne Hits Back at Usman Khawaja Regarding 'Shot Selection'

Former Australia cricketer, Shane Warne stood by his statement regarding fancy shot selection after Usman Khawaja fired shots at him. The opener hit out at older generation players for slamming creative, new-age shots. Khawaja, on Wednesday, tried to defend some of the new-found shots such as ramps and lap sweeps, saying these are more like ‘cover drives’ for the young generation.

The 31-year-old southpaw is one of the vital cogs in the Australian set-up currently. He underwent a knee surgery and has been named in the Test squad to take on India later this year. Khawaja is likely to play a few domestic games ahead of the all important series. The batter is yet to clear the fitness test but is likely to bat at no.3 in whites.

“It’s expected. You train for it; you play for it, you do it all the time,” Khawaja said of the new shots batsmen attempt, as reported by foxsports.com.au. “I hear you guys talking a lot about the classic cricket shots. The game’s changed, we do play different shots now.” Khawaja said.

Usman Khawaja hits out at Shane Warne

He took a slight dig at the retired brigade and said the game has evolved over the years.

“A lot of the old traditionalists don’t like the reverse sweeps, the paddles. But sometimes, they’re the little risks you have to take to bring in those classic cricket shots. The game has evolved a fair bit from where it was. Sometimes it does look ugly when it doesn’t come but when it does everybody loves it, and that’s the entertainment of T20 cricket,” he opined.

Shane Warne not impressed

Meanwhile, Warne though took none of it and stood by his call.

“I was listening the other night, and he said sometimes us older players don’t understand about the modern day player and the innovation,” Warne said. “ Well, I don’t think any of us from yesteryear watching the modern day player from any country mind innovation. I think it’s fantastic,” he added.

The spin wizard who is known for speaking his mind said the players hadn’t made use of the innovation at the right time.

“But I don’t want to see them use that as an excuse for when it doesn’t work, and they’ve used it at the wrong time.” Warne pointed out.