Usman Khawaja: All you need to know about the newest RPSG member

Khawaja was at his brilliant best in the Big Bash League

After Kevin Pietersen of the Rising Pune Supergiants was ruled out of the ongoing IPL season due to a calf injury, Usman Khawaja’s name was the first one to pop up as his possible replacement. The former England batsman picked up the injury during RPSG’s game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on 22 April.

MS Dhoni’s RPSG, who have been visibly struggling in this IPL with just 2 wins out of their 6 games, have named the Australian opening batsman Usman Khawaja as a replacement for Pietersen.

The Australian opener was in scintillating form during the recently concluded World T20 2016, where Australia were knocked out in the group stage. He played four matches and scored 143 runs at a strike rate of 137.50 and an average of 35.75, with just one 50+ score.  

Here are the top 10 facts to know about Rising Pune Supergiants’ latest acquisition:

1) Usman Khawaja was born in Islamabad, and became the first Muslim and first Pakistani-born player to play Test cricket for Australia, and only the seventh foreign-born cricketer to do so in the last 80 years. 

2) Khawaja made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 2008 and holds a record in Australian first-class cricket of being the only player to hit consecutive double centuries for NSW Second XI. He also won the player of the tournament in the Australian Under-19 Championship in 2005 and played for Australia in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka as an opening batsman.

3) The left-handed batsman made his Test debut on 3 January 2011 and scored 37 & 21 in his two innings. He was dropped from the team for 2 years owing to poor form and multiple shoulder injuries. He made a stunning return to Test cricket on 5 November 2015 against New Zealand, and has scored 4 centuries in 6 matches at an average of 101.85 since then, with the highest test score of 174.

4) Khawaja's knocks of 109*, 62, 104* and 70 helped Sydney Thunders win their first Big Bash League in 2016, where he averaged at 172.5 in the four innings that he played.

5) The 29-year-old made his T20I debut on 31 January 2016 when Australia played India in Sydney and was caught on 14(6), with a strike rate of 233.33. He has played seven T20 international matches for Australia, scoring 199 runs at a strike rate of 137.24, averaging 28.42, with a highest score of 58.