the primary two well timed at Chennai and Hyderabad. To his wonder, he was once knowledgeable via the Arthur that he was once “suspended” from taking part in the following Test for now not filing the homework given to him. The crew control, as an alternative, selected to head with Steve Smith for the Mohali Test. Khawaja was once now not the one one. Allrounder Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson and James Pattinson had been different gamers interested by what was once infamously known as as ‘homework gate’.
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Khawaja, who is had a stop-start profession, and now not wholly because of cricketing causes, was once again in India for the 2017 excursion. But he wasn’t picked for any of the 4 Tests, ostensibly as a result of he could not play spin and all he did was once elevate beverages onto the sphere.
On this 3rd Test excursion, the 36-year-old Pakistan-born left-hander, has simply been the most productive batter from the visiting crew. And on Thursday, he were given the monkey off his again with a preventing hundred on Day 1 of the fourth Test towards a top quality spin assault.
Khawaja was once requested if he did really feel susceptible towards spin bowling early on in his profession. He stated, “Maybe to some extent. But think it was a self-fulfilling prophecy in its own way. People start saying that then perception is reality. People were like ‘you can’t play spin’. I probably started believing it myself.
“I didn’t really get the support from the people around me at the time. Didn’t feel like the team really supported me, didn’t feel like the coaching staff and selectors really supported me through that journey. It just made it so difficult. Whether I was or wasn’t, yes, I’m a better player of spin now, no doubt about that.
“I’ve extra photographs, higher protection. But I did not in point of fact get the chance to be informed at that early degree. Fortunately, sufficient I’m reasonably cussed so went out of my very own manner to be informed. We had a few A excursions right here in India which helped so much. Had to return and determine all of it out alone.”
On scoring his 14th Test hundred – and the primary towards India in Tests, Khawaja stated, “I do not believe I’ve ever smiled such a lot on getting a century, there was once emotion in it, I’ve executed two excursions of India prior to, carried the beverages for 8 Test suits prior to I were given a possibility right here,” a beaming Khawaja stated after the day’s play.
“Throughout the middle of my career, I got told I couldn’t play spin and that’s why I never got an opportunity to play in India. I got an opportunity to play in a white ball series a few years ago and was man of the series (he had scored two hundreds), got an opportunity here again with the red ball.
“It’s just nice to go out there and tick off a hundred in India which was something if you told me I’d do, five years ago, I’d think you were crazy. There was a lot of emotion, I just never expected this to happen.
(AI Image)
