Usman Khawaja has announced his retirement from international cricket, confirming that the fifth Ashes Test at Sydney will be the final chapter of his journey in Australian colours. After 15 long years marked by hard work, patience, grit and quiet determination, the curtains will fall where it all once began for him — in an Ashes Test at the SCG in 2011.
From that first nervous walk out to the middle to this emotional farewell, Khawaja’s career has been one of resilience, belief and earning every moment the hard way. Usman Khawaja’s Test career had everything a long journey can offer. There were soaring highs and crushing lows, phases where his elegant batting was admired but never lasted long enough, and moments when fans wished he could bat all day, only for it to slip away too soon.
Yet, he always did just enough — enough to remind everyone of his promise, his skill, and his value —
and that kept him in the side. Fifteen years in international cricket, especially in Tests, is no small feat, more so in this era where batting has become a real challenge and pitches offer little mercy. Over that time, you are bound to live every phase and feel every emotion the game throws at you, and Usman Khawaja went through them all with quiet grace and remarkable composure.
The SCG Test That Changed Everything
Usman Khawaja’s Test career can be seen in two clear extremes. The first was the pre-2022 phase, when he was highly rated and much was expected of him in Australian Test colours, especially during the turbulent period after the bans of Steve Smith and David Warner. The second phase began with the New Year’s Test at the SCG against England in 2022, when he was recalled after 30 long months out of the side, getting his chance only because Travis Head was ruled out due to COVID. Khawaja has always shared a special bond with the SCG, a ground where many of his most memorable Test moments have unfolded.
2022 was no different.
Called back into the team from nowhere after being dropped during the 2019 Ashes, Khawaja lit up the Sydney crowd with twin centuries, announcing his comeback in the most emphatic fashion. All the expectations and faith that Australian cricket pundits had placed in him finally found their reward. The subsequent tours to the subcontinent further elevated his game, as he thrived in tough conditions and roared on Test tours of Pakistan and India.
It was a comeback very few saw coming.
Since that SCG Test against England in 2022, Khawaja’s name has been all over the batting charts for top-order players operating at positions 1 to 3. He has scored the most runs in this period — 2928 runs in 73 Test innings — while also facing the most deliveries (6355 balls) and spending the most time at the crease (9485 minutes). His average of 44.36 since the comeback, fourth best among his peers, underlines how consistent and valuable he has been. Against the new ball and in the toughest phases of Test cricket, Usman Khawaja carved out a reputation for absorbing pressure with skill, patience and an almost artistic calm.
From Subcontinent Success to Ashes Redemption
Across a career that now spans 87 Tests, Khawaja has piled up 6206 runs at an average of 43.2, with 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries to his name. Given his roots in Pakistan, there was always an expectation that he would be a strong player of spin — soft hands, supple wrists and the ability to read the ball early. He lived up to that promise, producing telling performances on subcontinent tours, averaging 48 in India, 50 in Sri Lanka and an astonishing 165 in Pakistan, albeit from a smaller sample size. It only added another layer to a Test career built on adaptability, technique and quiet resilience.
The lowest point of Khawaja’s career can be traced to that difficult phase after the Smith–Warner bans, when he couldn’t quite deliver to the level expected of him, or perhaps to the moment he was dropped midway through the 2019 Ashes.
But what stood out throughout his journey was the way he always found a way back. He returned to England for the 2023 Ashes and this time, the story was very different. Australia levelled the series 2–2, and Khawaja’s bat played a decisive role. He finished as the leading run-scorer of the series with 496 runs.
At the very place where he once lost his spot, he now helped Australia retain the Ashes.
Grinding Runs, Earning Respect
There was disappointment and heavy criticism too when he failed to make an impact in the 2018–19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Yet, once again, he answered in his own way. In the 2023 series in India, even though Australia couldn’t win the series, Khawaja emerged as the standout performer for his side. On a raging turner at Indore, against a high-quality Indian spin attack, he top-scored in the first innings of a famous Test win, showing immense courage and control.
Khawaja’s value was not limited to Tests alone.
He has been a key figure in Australia’s ODI series win in India in 2019, where they came back strongly to win 3–2 after losing the first two matches. His ability to handle spin during the middle overs proved vital in turning that series around.
There are numerous knocks and moments that deserve special mention when talking about Khawaja’s Test career. His innings often reflected the art and the fading heritage of Test match batting — where top-order batters grind hard, absorb pressure, and make life easier for the rest of the team in tough situations.
In that sense, Usman Khawaja was a rare character, much like South Africa’s Dean Elgar. The numbers may differ, but the traits were strikingly similar — both took on the hardest phases of the game on the spiciest of surfaces.
As the story comes full circle, one can only hope that Khawaja signs off his long and eventful SCG journey on a high, at the ground that has given him so much- and to which he has given even more.
