‘Didn’t See it Coming’ – Usman Khawaja Shocked to Be Dropped from Australia ODI Squad

Usman Khawaja has said he was shocked to be dropped from Australia’s One-Day International squad for the three-match series in January 2020.

Australia left out the 33-year-old Khawaja and instead picked Marnus Labuschagne with an eye on the 2023 World Cup. Khawaja had done little wrong, scoring 1085 runs in ODIs in 2019 at an average of 49.31.

“In all honesty I wasn’t expecting to be dropped,” Khawaja said. “Normally when you’re getting dropped, you feel like there’s a chance. When I was at the Ashes over there, I thought, ‘there’s a chance here.’ You sort of see it coming.

“I didn’t really see this one coming. It took me by a little bit of shock.”

Khawaja’s successful year in ODIs included a stellar performance in the ODI series in India earlier this year, where he topped the batting charts with 383 runs from five innings at an average of 76.6. It included two centuries and two half-centuries, as Australia won the series 3-2.

“They can’t really tell me to score more runs because I’m one of the highest run-scorers in international cricket. I scored plenty of runs and did plenty well when I came back here, so I don’t think there was too much they could say, and there wasn’t too much I wanted to say back to them.

“It’s disappointing; I copped it on the chin and I’m just looking forward to playing for (Sydney) Thunder now.”

The first ODI will be played on January 14 in Mumbai, before the series moves to Rajkot (January 17) and Bangalore (January 19).