The Ashes 2025: Usman Khawaja lays down gauntlet, again, but his career is on the line

Usman Khawaja has not been shy to make powerful figures confront uncomfortable topics. But his comments about the Perth pitch have backed Cricket Australia into a corner and could end his Test career.

Usman Khawaja has not been shy to make powerful figures confront uncomfortable topics.

It is perhaps only fitting then that Khawaja will force Australian selectors into what shapes as the toughest call of their tenure, deciding whether to drop a man with 16 Test centuries mid-series ahead of his home Test in a call that would effectively spell the end of his international career.

As the Australian Test squad reassembles on Sunday ahead of the pink-ball clash at the Gabba, about the only thing that is clear about the Khawaja situation is that he will not be falling on his sword.

Doing so would have been off-brand.

This is a man who almost two years ago sparked a culture war over his decision to inscribe human rights messages in Palestinian colours at the height of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

He has been willing to challenge Cricket Australia over its stance towards Afghanistan, the Federal Government and sporting establishment in relation to gambling advertisements, call out the then opposition leader over alleged race baiting and - albeit not entirely of his own making - become embroiled in a feud with Queensland’s head of cricket Joe Dawes earlier this year around his Sheffield Shield availability.

READ MORE: CA bosses fuming over Khawaja’s ‘piece of s***’ comment

Usman Khawaja has never been afraid to speak his mind. Picture: Tertius Pickard

If anyone was expecting Khawaja just to keep his head down since the Perth Test, they haven’t paid much attention to his modus operandi.

His inclusion of a golf course in a post-match Instagram gallery - surely no coincidence given the hysteria over his first Test preparation - was the type of cheek that helped endear the self-styled “people’s champ” to the public during his renaissance.

That was relatively low-grade on the provocateur-o-meter.

But things escalated on Friday at his foundation luncheon.

Far be it for a sports reporter who grows tired of banal responses from athletes to criticise Khawaja’s decision to label the Perth Stadium pitch a “piece of s***” during an on-stage interview, but it wasn’t exactly the height of diplomacy, not least because the ICC had given the wicket its top billing a day earlier.

Usman Khawaja is in hot water after describing the Perth pitch as a “piece of s***”. Picture: Getty Images

Still, Khawaja is well within his rights to leave the ball in the panel’s court. Even accounting for the fact he has gone on longer than most - turning 39 in a few weeks - Khawaja will be a long time retired.

When he sat down with this columnist for an interview at Australia’s team hotel in Barbados in June, Khawaja - talking in the context of trying to play a mentor role to the emerging Sam Konstas - made a point of noting that he had “been dropped seven times from the Australian cricket team, I’m sure more than any other batsman.”

It is understandable then for him to feel as though he is making up for lost time, and want to squeeze out every last drop of juice from his lemon. The sense of “what might have been” ought to be particularly acute given he averaged 66.24 across a 19-Test run following his serendipitous return to the Test side at the start of 2022.

Usman Khawaja is in the midst of his final summer as a member of the Australian XI. How many Tests that lasts is up for debate. Picture: Getty Images

No one should blame him if he feels his peak was unfairly cut short.

The thing is though, that dating back to the Leeds Test of the 2023 Ashes, his average drops to 31.97. That includes Tests against seven different opponents in five different nations spanning almost two and and a half years.

That is a precipitous decline, and we are not talking about tiny sample sizes anymore.

More pertinently, CricViz data details that against right-arm pace going around the wicket, Khawaja averaged 54.39 with 23 dismissals until the end of 2023, and 16.57 from 19 dismissals since the start of last year. England has a clear template to follow and the attack to put a blueprint into action.

Had Khawaja merely failed in Perth, he would probably would have been given the Brisbane Test in any case to save his career, in line with the strong message emanating from selectors for months.

But Travis Head’s spellbinding century jolted the landscape dramatically. It is no longer about just affording Khawaja an extra Test, but potentially denying a ready-made and red hot opener another go.

Before the series, Steve Waugh had questioned chairman of selectors George Bailey’s preparedness to make the difficult call. Bailey would probably not have envisaged this crossroads arriving so quickly, but here we are.

Originally published as The Ashes 2025: Usman Khawaja lays down gauntlet, again, but his career is on the line