Usman Khawaja, one of Australia’s finest player bid farewell to Test cricket at the end of the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He had announced it prior to the game and it was an emotional moment for him and his family. He was dismissed for 17 in the first innings and on Day 5 with Australia requiring another 68 runs to win, Usman Khawaja made his last walk out as an Australian Test player. He was given a guard of honour by the England Team.
Khawaja could only score six runs and was dismissed by Tongue. After chopping on to his stumps off Tongue, the left hander shared a long embrace with Marnus Labuschagne before blowing a kiss to his family in the Churchill Stand and bowing down before the Thanks Uzzy message painted on the turf of his home ground. It was an emotional moment for him and it was quite visible. Watch the video here.
Khawaja did not have a great Test and with scores of 17 and 6 in his final Test didn’t contribute much to the result, Khawaja admitted that rounding out the summer with a win was his main priority. Khawaja in the post match interview said that “I said to [his wife] Rach this morning … the only thing I want is a win, to finish off the Ashes with a win. I’d love nothing more,”
“As much as I wanted to go out there and score runs and hit the winning runs, I’m just so grateful for one last final win and to celebrate with my teammates. I was trying to act cool, but the whole Test match I found it really hard to control my emotions. I pride myself on being able to control my emotions my whole career, I haven’t given away too much, but I found it really hard to concentrate” Khawaja added
It was a very emotional day for Usman Khawaja and he said that his whole career and especially the last end of the career was built on process and it was hard to concentrate in his last match due to overwhelming emotions and he was pleased that he could win the match with his Australian team one last time in his Test career
