Dubai: Australian rising star Usman Khawaja says his nation are focused on getting a win against India in the upcoming series.
Australian cricket players visited the Gulf News chalet during the Omega Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club yesterday and among them was Khawaja.
The other Australian players were all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, slow left-arm spinner Ashton Agar and off spinner Matt Renshaw.
England Test star Graeme Hick was also present and Sunil Gavaskar too visited on Friday. The Australian team is currently training at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Academy and took a break to watch golf.
Speaking to Gulf News, Pakistan-born Khawaja, who has proved to be a fine top order batsman, said all eyes are on India later this month.
He said: “All tours are important for us. Representing Australia we always want to win every single series we play. We want to try and win this series and learn from it but we are also going to have fun.”
Khawaja added: “I am very happy with my career so far. I am very excited I am playing cricket for Australia. It is a great honour and I am enjoying it.”
Rajeev Khanna, Commercial Director of Gulf News, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to host the Australia cricket team in our chalet at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic today. It was rather special for us and our guests to meet both the legends Sunil Gavaskar and Graeme Hick to the new sensations including Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh and spend some time with them.”
Khawaja, who made his international debut four years ago, has scored five centuries and eight half centuries in Test cricket. His parents migrated to Australia after Khawaja was born in Islamabad. In the recent Melbourne Test against Pakistan, Khawaja cracked 97 runs and ensured Australia an innings and 18 runs victory.
When asked how he felt playing against his country of birth, Khawaja, who also became the first Muslim to play for Australia, said: “It wasn’t any different. I lived in Australia my whole life. Once you get on the field you just concentrate on doing well. It does not change whoever is the opponent.”
India’s left-arm spinner Sridharan Sriram is mentoring slow left-arm spinner Ashton Agar and off-spinner Matt Renshaw. “Sriram has been around with us for a long time. He is very good and I get along with him very well. He is very knowledgable and it is good to have him,” said Khawaja, who had suffered a knee injury slowing down his progress in 2014.
“Thankful I have been injury free for the last two years. Body is feeling really good and hope it continues the way,” added the No. 3 specialist and a classy left hander, who said he loves visiting Dubai.
“Dubai is a beautiful place. It is nice to come here and I have made a few trips. I enjoy golf, we all play golf too,”
