[Watch] "Stop swiping through the camera" - Usman Khawaja's adorable interaction with daughter leaves journalists in splits
Australian opener Usman Khawaja attended the press conference on Saturday, June 17, after Day 2 of the opening Ashes 2023 Test, with his cute daughter Aisha, who will turn three soon. While the batter grabbed the limelight on the field with a tremendous hundred, it was his daughter who stole the show at the media interaction.
In an adorable moment, Khawaja decided to answer media questions following his wonderful 126 not out with his daughter sitting on his lap. Children being children, though, cannot avoid getting naughty.
Khawaja, in fact, had to stop answering a query midway and interrupt his daughter, who was flipping through a journalist’s camera roll. Like a doting father, the Aussie opener told Aisha:
“Stop swiping through the camera. It’s okay, you can do it later - you can play with Dad’s phone.”
The little one, not knowing what to do, started rubbing her eyes even as the mediapersons broke out in unanimous laughter.
The hilarious moment when the daughter of Australian cricketer, Usman Khawaja, was caught by her dad scrolling through a journalist's camera roll 😅 https://t.co/wgxlgTIcOv
Regarding his decision to bring his daughter to the press conference, Khawaja was quoted as saying by Fox Sports:
“She didn’t want to be away from me.”
Aisha was also heard enquiring about her younger sister Ayla, who was born in May 2022. The interaction went as follows:
“Daddy, baby Ayla’s not here!”
“Yeah, she’s not here, baby Ayla’s not here, she’s with Mama. We’ll go back soon though, okay? Two minutes,” the cricketer replied.
Before starting the press conference, the left-handed batter quipped:
“I don’t know how long I have here, so let’s do this.”
Khawaja was the star of the show for Australia on Saturday. His unbeaten 126 featured 14 fours and two sixes as the visitors recovered from 67/3 to end the day on 311/5.
Usman Khawaja opens up on emotional celebration after ton
Ever since returning to the Test team early last year, Khawaja has been in exceptional form and has notched up seven hundreds in 18 matches. However, there were some question marks as the southpaw averaged under 18 in Tests in England ahead of the ongoing tour.
It wasn’t surprising that Khawaja let out a huge roar and threw his bat in the air after reaching three figures on Saturday. Asked about charged-up celebration, the batter explained:
“I honestly don‘t know. I think it was a culmination of three Ashes tours to England and being dropped on two of them. I don‘t read the media, but when I’m getting sprayed in the nets and getting sprayed when I’m walking out there that I can’t bat in England, I guess it was just a bit more emotional than normal.
“I feel like I‘m saying this all the time, the same thing happened in India. (It‘s) not that I have a point to prove, but it’s nice to go out and score runs for Australia, just to show everyone the last 10 years haven’t been a fluke,” he added.
At stumps on Day 2 at Edgbaston, Alex Carey (52*) was giving Khawaja company. The duo have added 91 runs for the sixth wicket.