Khawaja keeps calm and carries on batting in dramatic turn of fortunes | Geoff Lemon

The Australian opener once averaged 14.62 in Asia but his first Test century in India confirms his status as the team’s most important sub-continent batsman

When Usman Khawaja made a century in India to start off the Ahmedabad Test on Thursday, it didn’t come as a surprise. Just over a year ago the same idea would have been astonishing. At least, it would have been for the outside observer, who would have known that Khawaja had a record of problems batting against spin. The player himself may have had more belief.

Khawaja can be a punchy customer. His dealings with the media have a bit of prickle, taking issue with lines of questioning that he doesn’t agree with. Fair enough, it counters laziness from the other side of the exchange. In a more collaborative interview with Cricbuzz recently, Khawaja explained his relationship with spin to writer Bharat Sundaresan. Perhaps that helped get his thoughts in order, because he voiced things similarly when he spoke to a press conference in Ahmedabad.

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