{"id":4330,"date":"2023-12-10T06:10:26","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T06:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/?p=4330"},"modified":"2023-12-10T06:11:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T06:11:13","slug":"usman-khawaja-gives-a-huge-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/usman-khawaja-gives-a-huge-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I love Australia, but\u2026\u2019: Usman Khawaja gives a huge statement on his connection with Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Usman Khawaja has opened up about his Pakistani roots.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The left-handed batter is part of Australia&#8217;s squad for the upcoming Test series against Pakistan.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As Australia prepares for the upcoming<a href=\"https:\/\/crickettimes.com\/series\/127692\/pakistan-tour-of-australia-2023-24\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0three-test series against Pakistan<\/a>,\u00a0<strong>Usman Khawaja<\/strong>, the seasoned Australian cricketer, has shed light on his deep connection to Pakistani roots. The left-handed batter, with his roots tracing back to\u00a0<strong>Islamabad<\/strong>, has unveiled the riveting tale of his cricketing journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having touched down in Australia at the tender age of four, Khwaja stormed into international cricket in 2011, making waves as a formidable player. Notably, he etched his name as the first Australian of Pakistani heritage to don the jersey for the six-time ODI World Cup champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"usman-khwaja-on-his-connection-with-pakistan\">Usman Khawaja on his connection with Pakistan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Khawaja reflected on the sentimental significance of scoring a Test hundred in Karachi against Pakistan in 2022, acknowledging the nostalgia it holds for his father, who grew up in the Asian nation. Despite his deep love for Australia, the latter emphasized the importance of recognizing and appreciating his roots, with his father\u2019s cricketing heroes from Pakistan, such as&nbsp;<strong>Javed Miandad<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Zaheer Abbas<\/strong>, leaving a lasting impact on his cricketing memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"365\" src=\"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Hasan-Ali-and-Usman-Khawaja-700x365-1.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4332\" style=\"width:880px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Hasan-Ali-and-Usman-Khawaja-700x365-1.webp 700w, https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Hasan-Ali-and-Usman-Khawaja-700x365-1-300x156.webp 300w, https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Hasan-Ali-and-Usman-Khawaja-700x365-1-360x188.webp 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Also Read:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wpl-2024-complete-list-of-players-sold\/\"><strong>WPL 2024: Complete list of players sold at the auction with their price<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cMy dad (Tariq), who obviously grew up in Pakistan and supported Pakistan in cricket, would have been about 40 when we emigrated. I am sure for him there is a bit of nostalgia when I play Pakistan. So me getting a Test hundred in Karachi was really special. That meant a lot. I love Australia, but I never forget where I came from. Some of my dad\u2019s heroes were Pakistani cricketers. He talks a lot about Javed Miandad, probably his favourite batsman, and Zaheer Abbas,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Khwaja said, as quoted while saying to AAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"it-will-be-tough-khwaja-on-upcoming-series-against-pakistan\">\u2018It will be tough\u2019: Khwaja on upcoming series against Pakistan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking on the forthcoming series, Khawaja underscored the formidable challenge posed by Pakistan\u2019s bowling attack, particularly praising bowlers like&nbsp;<strong>Shaheen Afridi<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Hasan Ali<\/strong>. He also noted the skillfulness of&nbsp;<strong>Faheem Ashraf<\/strong>&nbsp;and weighed up on the importance of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/crickettimes.com\/2023\/11\/test-captain-shan-masood-reveals-pakistans-batting-order-for-the-upcoming-australia-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Shan Masood-led side<\/strong><\/a>\u2018s batting hold-up in Australian conditions for a competitive performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt will be tough. People always want to discard Pakistan, but that bowling attack is tough work,\u201d Khawaja said. \u201cShaheen Shah Afridi is a world-class bowler opening up. Then you have Hasan Ali, who has been a stalwart for them for a long time and is very skilled. Faheem Ashraf is coming down here too, and they have a lot of spinners. The biggest thing for Pakistan is whether their batting can hold up in our conditions,\u201d\u00a0the 36-year-old added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Australia prepares for the upcoming\u00a0three-test series against Pakistan,\u00a0Usman Khawaja, the seasoned Australian cricketer, has shed light on his deep connection to Pakistani roots. The left-handed batter, with his roots tracing back to\u00a0Islamabad, has unveiled&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[140,414,209,412],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4333,"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/4333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totalcric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}