Mitchell Starc backs Usman Khawaja to make a remarkable comeback against Bangladesh

Australia is set to tour Bangladesh for a 2-Test match series in the coming weeks, with the first Test kicking off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka on Sunday. With Australia still looking for a player to cement the opening slot, Usman Khawaja is expected to make a comeback to the side. Pacer, Mitchell Starc recently expressed his confidence in Khawaja and backed him to perform remarkably against Bangladesh.

Although Khawaja has had his share of trouble with facing spin bowling, Starc stated that the former has enough talent to beat his Achilles’ Heel and turn it into his strength. It’ll be interesting to see the counter measures that Bangladesh will take against Khawaja, given they are equipped with a strong spin-bowling set-up in favourable home conditions. Starc, himself, will be missing out on the Bangladesh tour, owing to an injury.

Starc is confident of Khawaja’s ability

Speaking to cricket.com.au, Starc was vocal about his trust in Khawaja’s cricketing abilities and said, “I think the whole team have copped a bit of stick about how we’ve played spin in the past and maybe ‘Uzzie’ more than most has copped a bit of it. From what I saw in that Indian series he worked a hell of a lot at it and I’m sure he did in the IPL with a few of the Indian spinners in that team working him around as well.

“It’s slightly different over in Bangladesh than it is in India, but I’m sure he’s going to be well equipped in this series. I know he’s worked really hard over the last 12 months, (he’s) really itching to get a game out there and no doubt he’ll be very well prepared for Bangladesh and look to put some big runs on the board,” the 27-year-old said.

Drawing confidence from their performance in India

The Aussie pacer also reflected on their 2017 India tour and added, “We can take a lot of positives out of that (India) tour. Obviously being in a such a good position in all four Test matches and losing the series is something we can learn from and be a little bit disappointed about. But the fact we were in commanding positions in all those Tests is also a positive. We can take a lot of confidence out of the way we played those spinners at times but we weren’t able to win some of the key moments with the bat and with the ball to win that series. It’s something we’re looking to learn from in Asian series going forward.”