Brisbane, Dec 15 Former Australia cricketer Allan Border has asked for veteran left-handed opener Usman Khawaja to put in hard yards if he wishes to play Test cricket for 12 more months.
Khawaja recorded another lean score in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, after being dismissed for 21 by Jasprit Bumrah at the Gabba on Sunday. With Khawaja set to turn 38 on Wednesday, questions have been raised over him being able to hold on to his place in the team ahead of next year’s Ashes at home.
“He’s got to really do those hard yards. If that (motivation) drops off, you’ll almost guarantee that your game will drop off. He’s naturally a very good player… he’s put a lot of work in, don’t get me wrong, but (he needs to) keep maintaining that, and more. He’s got a young family now, those things then start taking priority away from the game.
“Maybe you start cutting corners with training, and that’s when you can drop off a little bit. That’s when people start saying, ‘Oh he’s 38, maybe it’s time to move on.’ It just depends on his priorities, whether he has that hunger. Because as you get older, you can’t cut any corners,” said Border to Fox Sports.
With Khawaja’s Test average at 25.3 this year, citing his own example of retiring after the South Africa tour in 1994, Border explained why it was not uncommon for a batter’s performance graph to go down as he becomes older.
“I really wanted to play against them, but I realised that I probably shouldn’t have played that one more year. It was a bit of a carrot, but I think back now, I probably should have given it away the previous season. I could feel myself just getting a yard behind the ball.
“Naturally your body slows down. Even while I was batting (in my late thirties), I’d think, ‘Gee I’d normally cut that’. But I’d let it go. It would take a lot longer (to score runs) than it did when I was 28, just through the foot movement and reaction time, to pick the ball up and play the right shot. As I got older, you’re that yard behind. Even cover drives would squirt through for one rather than a four. It’s just those reaction times,” he concluded.
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