Khawaja establishes supremacy in the desert

Usman Khawaja had played nine innings in Asia prior to this and he had managed to to face only 295 balls in those nine innings, averaging a mere 14.62. He had spent only six hours at the crease in all those innings. When he lost his wicket and walked towards the dressing room in the second innings of the first test match between Australia and Pakistan, he had faced 302 balls, occupied the crease for more than nine hours and more importantly he had brought Australia out from the claws of defeat.

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Khawaja had claimed that he has found the method to play in the challenging Asian conditions while they were playing a series against India but he wasn't included in the playing 11 in any of the matches. Who would have that his method of playing in Asian conditions would be seen by the world after a gap of one year! Not only did he play a marathon innings, his innings ensured a draw for Australia from a very unlikely situation.

The bowling department of Pakistan has always been top notch from the time they started playing cricket and this time it was no different. Khawaja had to face Yasir Shah who is regarded as one of the best leg spinners in the world, perhaps the best in Test cricket. He was also up against Mohammad Abbas who has proved his accuracy time and again and the speed demon Wahab Riyaz who can generate a pace of over 150kmph. More importantly Australia had to face 140 overs in the fourth innings.

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The question remains that how was Khawaja able to see these threats through and how was he able to bat for such a long period! Well, it was because of his method he had talked about last year during the tour of India. He played the quick bowlers mostly on the front foot by advancing down the wicket and against the spinners he played a lot of reverse sweeps along with advancing down and playing lofted shots. He somehow managed to keep scoreboard moving. While the technique he applied was in no way according to the textbook of batting but it was very much effective to say the least.

It was not easy to bat in the fourth innings, it has never been. Moreover on Asian pitches where a lot of rough is created by the foot-marks of bowlers,batting conditions are worse. Everyone would have thought that Australia will survive a maximum of 50-60 overs. The most challenging situation for Khawaja was when he was facing Yasir Shah. Being a left hander Khawaja had to face the deliveries out of the rough from the leg spinner, he handled all his deliveries very well and brought up a ton in his 34th Test match. This was probably the best innings of his 34-Test career.

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After the match Khawaja said that I batted normally just like I would batter anywhere else in world and against any other opposition. I wasn't thinking that this is the fourth innings and we are trying to save the match, I just went out there with a positive attitude and played positive cricket. I have worked very hard for the past ten years to be here and to play an innings like this, nothing was gifted to me, he added.