Usman Khawaja will be ready to pull the pin on his own Test career if he ever feels that’s what Australia needs, but he has no active retirement plans as he prepares to face Sri Lanka.
The 38-year-old’s future received renewed interest when he managed only one score above 20 across the first three India Tests of the home summer, before new opening partner Sam Konstas seemingly reinvigorated him at the top.
Khawaja posted a half-century in an enthrallingly tight MCG Test win, followed by a gutsy 41 in the SCG run chase that helped Australia reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.
The veteran arrives at the team’s luxurious hotel in Galle with a positive mindset, but aware he is nevertheless the elder statesman of an ageing squad.
Of the XI who won Australia the India series in Sydney, only Konstas was younger than 30.
The inclusions of Konstas, Cooper Connolly and Nathan McSweeney in the squad for the two matches in Galle signal Australia’s need to start planning for a transition period.
As that time approaches, Khawaja cringes at the thought of being the guy who hangs around too long.
“Over the next three to four years, there’s going to be a lot of transition going on,” Khawaja said.
“I’m quite attuned to that and I still want to play and I want to keep playing for as long as I can.
“But I also know there might be a right time to slip out. If I’m still playing and the selectors are like, ‘We feel like the time’s come’, it’s, ‘You let me know and I can slide out’.”
Khawaja is reticent to put a timeline for when he would like to sail off into the sunset.
His childhood mate and former Test opening partner David Warner inadvertently put his own form further under the microscope when he declared he wanted to bow out at the SCG in the summer of 2023/24.
Usman Khawaja. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
At the very least Khawaja wants to be there when England next visits Australia over the 2025/26 summer.
In a perfect world, he would hope to bow out at the SCG – his home ground as well – but that may not be in 12 months’ time against England.
“There’s definitely those thoughts (bowing out in Sydney) in my head, I’m not afraid to talk about that. I’m human,” he said.
“I’d still like to play the Ashes at a bare minimum. I try not to think too far ahead, that’s as far ahead as I’ll think.
“As long as we’re winning, I’m still contributing, my body’s still feeling good, I’ll play. For me it always feels more like one summer at a time (rather than retiring after the Ashes).”
Khawaja’s most recent knock at the SCG carried considerable weight in the eyes of Australia’s higher-ups; captain Pat Cummins intimated as much when play had early finished on day three.
He is a lock to open the batting for the two Tests against Sri Lanka in Galle, especially given he led all run-scorers on either side when Australia last toured the subcontinent to India in 2023.
It’s a far cry from the Khawaja who had been derided for his track record in Asia before an emotional 141 runs against Pakistan in Dubai in 2018.
His rise back to Australia’s most reliable batter in India two summers ago has convinced him not to pay heed to questions of his form.
“(Playing on the subcontinent) has been a love-hate relationship,” he said.
“(But) there’s going to be times when you score runs, times you don’t score runs. You respect that the older you get.
“Cricket always ebbs and flows. I’m very attuned to that now.”
