Usman Khawaja Reveals How A Chat With Justin Langer Helped Him Get Over The 'Anger' And 'Disappointment' After Snub From The National Side

Usman Khawaja, Australian middle-order batsman, has admitted of being left ‘angry’ and frustrated’ following his omission from the Australian team across all formats, especially white-ball cricket.

Khawaja, who racked up 1085 runs at an average of 49.31 last year, was left out of Australia’s ODI squad for the white-ball tours of India and South Africa earlier this year before being sidelined from the 21-man touring party for the ongoing tour of England.

“There was a bigger squad (for the UK white-ball tour) so it was a bit disappointing, but I mean I’ve been dropped and in and out so many times that I’ve just learned to deal with it, much better than I would’ve say 10 years ago,” Usman Khawaja was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

‘’I was a lot more disappointed when I first got left out of Indian tour, because at that time I felt like I very much belonged in that team, I was averaging 50 in one-day cricket for that period of time, I was in the top three or four run-scorers for the world in that year, so I didn’t really understand it,’’ he added.

Usman Khawaja opens up on his axe from the Australian team

Khawaja, who was also omitted from the Test squad that played against England in the Ashes followed by home series against Pakistan and New Zealand, said he was really angry with the decision and it was his chat with head coach Justin Langer that helped him focus again on what lies ahead rather than worrying about the selection.

“It was a really frustrating decision, and I was really angry for a period of that time. Fortunately I talked to JL (Langer) about three or four weeks after that happened … and got it all out in the open. It was a really good chat to have, and after that I’ve been really good; I’ve focused again on just worrying about my cricket,” he added.

Usman Khawaja has thus far represented Australia in 44 Tests, 40 ODIs and 9 T20Is, in which he has racked up 2887, 1554 and 241 runs respectively.

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