The Ashes: Pretty laborious to drop Usman Khawaja after twin centuries at SCG, says Pat Cummins

Usman Khawaja’s fairytale comeback has offered Australia with a variety headache, and captain Pat Cummins conceded it could be laborious to drop the in-form batsman from the fifth and ultimate Ashes Test in opposition to England in Hobart subsequent week.

Khawaja, 35, was picked to play his first Test in over two years solely as a result of Travis Head had examined optimistic for COVID-19, however he grabbed the chance with each fingers, smashing a century in every innings and claiming the man-of-the-match award.With a match Head set to affix the staff in Hobart, left-hander Khawaja stated he didn’t count on to be retained for the ultimate Test. But Cummins didn’t wish to rule him out.”I’ll preface it by saying I’m not a selector, but when someone comes out and hits twin hundreds, it’s pretty hard to go past them for the week after,” Cummins stated after the drawn fourth Test on the Sydney Cricket Ground.”So we’ll work through that, the selectors will work through that in the next few days. But when someone’s running hot, has got a heap of experience like Uzzy, the way he plays is fantastic.”Head’s match-winning century within the opening Test had set the tone for Australia’s dominance within the five-Test collection.Considering Khawaja’s capacity to bat anyplace within the prime order, Australia is also tempted to play him as opener changing Marcus Harris, who has managed just one half-century within the collection up to now.Cummins stated Khawaja’s versatility made the batsman an asset to have.”I guess that’s why he was the spare batter and picked in the squad originally,” Cummins stated. “It felt like he could replace any batter one-to-six really well. He’s hugely versatile.””I know there’s been question marks historically on him playing over in Asia, but you see how well he’s played spin recently,” he stated, referring to the batsman’s efficiency on the drier, spin-friendly wickets in Asia.”Reverse sweeping, sweeping. He’s just someone who is in total command of his game, and that’s why you love experience.”