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Khawaja seems confident that McSweeney can handle the demands of an extremely high-skilled format like Tests.
Nathan McSweeney is all set to open the batting for Australia. (Image: X)
Australian opening batter, Usman Khawaja has gone on to back his fellow young opener, Nathan McSweeney suggesting that the youngster should focus on playing his own game against India instead of looking to replicate David Warner’s exploits in the red-ball format.
Khawaja is a veteran who has represented Australia in 73 Tests with 15 centuries and almost 5000 runs in the format. He dismissed the notion that scoring runs at a quick pace is nothing but an urban myth and suggested his fellow opener to follow what has worked for him so far.
“I don’t know where this myth started that you needed someone to score fast. As an opener, you’re trying to score runs and you’ve got five days to do it. We didn’t have one Test match go for five days, last year. Opening is as much about scoring runs and just being able to absorb that time,” Khawaja was quoted as saying by news.com.au.
Khawaja reckons that Warner was indeed special and bat both fast and slow as per the situation which made him such a great player for the Australian side.
“Davey (Warner) was special. He could score runs while absorbing. He could sometimes score 100 of 100 balls but he didn’t do it every time. Sometimes it took him 170, or 180 balls to get that 100.
“He was consistent, he was out there, he was setting a platform for guys later to come in and score runs. Those two are both very important things,” Khawaja said.
Khawaja is confident that besides scoring runs at a fair clip, McSweeney also can bat time.
“I think Nathan does that well. He can score runs, but he can also bat time. They’re really important facets to have in Test cricket if you want to set games up.”
Khawaja warned McSweeney that there were “no guarantees in cricket” but said that the 25-year-old batter didn’t “have to do anything different” in the Test arena.
“You just try to repeat the process. The only thing that changes is that you have a few more people watching. Not many people watch Shield cricket.”
Khawaja seems confident that McSweeney can handle the demands of an extremely high-skilled format like Tests.
“You always go through ups and downs in cricket, but when you look at Nathan, you look at his demeanour, you look at the way he plays, you feel that over a longer period that, yes, this guy will be able to handle the scrutiny of Test cricket and the pressure of Test cricket.”
“Even though there are no guarantees, I’m sure the selectors have made a calculated decision with him,” Khawaja concluded.
(with PTI Inputs)
