Usman Khawaja’s triumphant return to England justifies his place among Australia’s modern elite

In the pre-series hyperbole of Australia’s number one, two and three-ranked batters, Usman Khawaja was less spoken of among England’s potential tormentors. His failures in the World Test Championship final did little to help his reputation facing swing in England. But, at Edgbaston, he showed how complete his redemption has been.

As England desperately searched for wickets on the final day, Khawaja was unflappable. No amount of tormenting from Ollie Robinson, temptation from England’s field placings or a steady drip of wickets at the other end could shake his resolve. When Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head all failed, Khawaja was the one who stood firm.

Turn the clock back to Australia’s first innings, and Khawaja came into the game with an atrocious record in England. In 14 innings, he had scored just one fifty. His average read 17.78, and he had only made it past 30 on three occasions. After he made eight and 23 at Headingley in the 2019 series, he was dropped and didn’t play another Test for over two years.

Dropping Khawaja at that point was probably fair from Australia’s perspective. Batting as he was then at No.3, Marnus Labuschagne had more than earned his place to depose Khawaja from that spot as Smith returned from his concussion. After a relatively successful 2018, Khawaja’s only contribution of substance in 2019 was a century on a flat pitch in Canberra against Sri Lanka. While he had done enough in his earlier career to keep his place, he hadn’t set the world alight.

But since his return, his record is nothing short of extraordinary. In 18 matches during that time, he has scored seven centuries, joint with Joe Root for the most from any batter, as well as eight half-centuries. No opener who has batted in more than ten innings in the same time frame has a higher average (63.20) and he has scored almost 500 runs more than the next most prolific Australia batter (Labuschagne).

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The most impressive aspect of Khawaja’s return, however, has been his performances overseas. In the 20 innings he has played outside Australia since his comeback, his average jumps to 73.50. A fair amount of that is made up of the outrageous volume of runs he made in Pakistan last year, where he scored 97, 160, 44*, 91 and 104*. However, to reduce Khawaja’s recent overseas record to flat pitches in Pakistan would be disingenuous. He made 81 in the first innings of the Delhi Test earlier this year, the highest score of anyone in that game, and, after another half-century in Indore, scored 180 in Ahmedabad.

His record stands out for the rarity of overseas openers succeeding in India alone. But it stands in combination with the rest of Australia’s individual batting records overseas. Khawaja has four centuries outside Australia since January 2022. The rest of their batters combined have scored five, including a solitary three-figure score from Labuschagne, the No.1 ranked batter in the world.

His century on day two of the Edgbaston Test completes that remarkable overseas record. He has now scored runs in all conditions in Asia and overcome his demons in England to find success here. After that innings, he referenced as much: “I think it was a combination of having three Ashes tours in England and being dropped in two of them. Not that I have a point to prove, but it’s nice to go out there and score runs for Australia, just to show everyone that the last 10 years hasn’t been a fluke.”

Today, he did more than just back that century up. No matter what England threw at him, he matched them in his determination to see his side home. The flatness of the pitch can be referenced, as can the limited role Moeen Ali was able to play and the reprieve he was given by Jonny Bairstow on five, but Khawaja was a giant for Australia today.

Australia’s dominance has been built on winning big, but they have struggled when taken to the wire. Today, they have Khawaja to thank for overcoming that hurdle.