“He’s a world-class player”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson is optimistic that batsman Usman Khawaja will excel in the upcoming four-Test series in India, which begins on February 23 in Pune.

Khawaja has failed to have much of an impact in the subcontinent thus far as he has an average of 19.16 after four Tests, all of which have come in Sri Lanka.

Despite his record in the subcontinent having been questioned, Watson is confident that Khawaja will silence his critics later this month.

“He’s a world-class player and you’ve got to give world-class players an opportunity to learn as well,” Watson told the Unplayable Podcast. “The more he plays in those conditions, the more he’ll learn for the future.

“And especially if there’s no fear around whether (or not) he’ll get dropped, it won’t be in the back of his mind so he can go and play with freedom like he does when he’s at his absolute best.

“I’ll know he’ll learn from his experiences in Sri Lanka and do whatever he can to have more success this time in India.”

During last year’s tour of Sri Lanka, which Australia lost 3-0, Khawaja was axed after two Tests and was less than impressed with the decision.

In October, he told Fairfax Media: “It was disappointing that Joe Burns and I were sort of the scapegoats for not performing … I just thought that I’d only played two Test matches in the subcontinent and I got dropped.”