I've just learned to deal with getting in and out of teams: Usman Khawaja

Australia are currently on English soil, where they are locking horns with the host team in three T20Is and as many ODIs. While the home side has already started the series on a winning note, the visitors will be looking forward to turning the game in their favour in the second T20I taking place on September 6. Meanwhile, Australian batsman Usman Khawaja has expressed his agitation for not being involved in the ODI series squad for long.

The 33-year-old had a successful year in 2019, where he scored 1,085 ODI runs at an average of 49.31. But since then, Khawaja has felt like he is being isolated from side’s 50-over squad. It started with tours of India in January and then South Africa (February-March), and now the recent one is of course the tour to England.

“There was a bigger squad [for the UK white-ball tour] so, it was a little bit disappointing not to be in the team, but I mean I’ve been dropped and in and out of teams so many times that I’ve just learned to deal with it, much better than I would’ve said 10-years ago,” Khawaja told cricket.com.au.

It was a really frustrating decision: Usman Khawaja

The southpaw stated that he was quite frustrated by the time he was dropped from the India tour. Back then, he was averaging around the 50-mark in ODIs and was piling on runs with sheer ease. His emotions really went for a toss when he was dropped all of a sudden.

“I was a lot more disappointed when I first got left out of the Indian tour because at that time I felt like I very much belonged in that team, I was averaging 50 in one-day cricket for that period of time, I was in the top three or four run-scorers for the world in that year, so I didn’t really understand it.

“It was a really frustrating decision, and I was really angry for a period of that time,” he concluded. However, the left-handed also admitted that talking to coach Justin Langer helped him calm down emotions and put the focus back on the game.