"I will always back Davey no matter what" - Usman Khawaja on his under-fire opening partner
Australian top-order batter Usman Khawaja has backed his fellow opening partner David Warner to come good in the 4th Ashes Test. The 36-year-old stated that he would back Warner to the hilt, no matter what.
Warner's place in the eleven has come into the spotlight after twin failures in the 3rd Test at Headingley. The veteran opener managed only five runs at the venue as Australia lost by three wickets, but still lead the series 2-1.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald while training on Monday, Khawaja said he rates Warner among the best openers produced by Australia alongside Matthew Hayden.
"From my point of view Dave Warner has been one of the greatest openers of all time. It is him and ‘Haydos’ right up there for Australia I reckon, the top two ever, so I will always back Davey no matter what, and I think the other guys will, too.”
Warner made his Test debut against 2011 in New Zealand and has scored 8343 runs in 107 matches at 44.61. However, the southpaw's away record isn't as impressive as home and has hinted at retiring from the format early next year.
"A thankless job" - Usman Khawaja on opening the innings
Khawaja, who has 356 runs in 3 Ashes Tests, felt their 70-run opening stand at Lord's was instrumental in setting the game up for Australia and elaborated:
"It’s massive. It [opening the batting] is a thankless job. We got a really good start at Lord’s in heavy overhead conditions. I got out last over before lunch, but that sets up the game for us. Steve Smith came out and batted in the sunshine and made a beautiful hundred. I think as an opener sometimes you don’t always record your good days on how many runs you made."
The veteran believes that sometimes it's more about bunting the new ball instead of scoring runs for openers.
"Sometimes it’s just about grinding through those tough times, which we did in that Test match. We’ve had three 50-run partnerships against Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. That is as tough as it gets in England. You have to pay some respect to that."
The 4th Test starts on July 19th at Old Trafford.