Khawaja happy to erase one-day doubts

Usman Khawaja says he was frustrated that coaches and selectors pigeonholed him as a red-ball batsman early in his career.

Australia's Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja has changed all manner of perceptions in his cricket career. (AAP)

Usman Khawaja has changed all manner of perceptions in his cricket career, doing it all in a relaxed fashion that many mistake for indifference.

Few fill the gifted batsman with as much pride as proving he has the capacity to succeed in one-day cricket.

The left-hander has now played six ODIs straight, the latest featuring a knock of 98 in St Kitts.

The 29-year-old has come a long way since NSW were initially reluctant to pick him in their one-day team.

"When I was younger I was always pigeonholed as a four-day player. It frustrated me a lot," Khawaja said.

"Even when I performed back in first grade cricket at the time when I was really young, I still wouldn't get a chance at NSW.

"I finally got a chance - I put some numbers on the board and I did well and we won a few games."

Khawaja later shifted to Queensland and was eventually called up to Australia's ODI side in January, 2013.

But after managing a total of 14 runs from three digs, he was dropped and had to wait over three years for another chance.

"No matter how many runs I scored in the Matador Cup, it was too hard to crack it," Khawaja said of the wait.

Former Queensland coach Stuart Law provided good perspective as Khawaja watched the national dominate so many 50-over contests.

"If you ask our old coach Stuey Law he'll tell you how hard it was in his time to play for Australia. He played just one Test and he averaged about 50 in first-class cricket," he said.

"Sometimes it's just about timing and if the timing's not right, it's not right."

Khawaja's timing has been near-perfect since he was recalled to the Test side at the start of 2015-16.

In the space of eight months he has become an automatic selection for Australia in all three formats.

"I worked my backside off to get to where I am now," he said.

"A lot of people don't see what happens behind the scenes, so they just see you starting to play well and doing things. They just think it just happened out of nowhere.

"It never works that way.

"Unless you've actually seen other people do it or been through it yourself, you don't realise how much effort (is involved)."


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Source: AAP



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