Follow UsWhile people assumed that Usman Khawaja was not sent as an opener because of a tactical change by the Australian team to tackle the pace and bounce of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood during the first Ashes Test's Day 1, the real reason behind the southpaw not walking in as an opener was totally different.
Khawaja was actually punished by the umpires for spending the last three overs of the English innings on the bench. It was a significant part of the innings as from 160/5, England got all out for 172. They lost five wickets for 12 runs within four overs.
Since Khawaja did not spend that part on the field and was in and out of the field for most of the England innings, he was not allowed to open the innings by the umpires.
As a result, Marnus Labuschagne and Jake Weatherald opened the innings for the Australian side. The 38-year-old eventually came out to bat at number four, which was Labuschagne’s original number to bat at.
However, nothing made much of a difference as, eventually, none of the Australian batters offered much resistance to the English bowling, and by the end of the day, they were 123/9, trailing by 49 runs.
As for Khawaja, he was not having a lot of problems with his back. He had rather played several sessions of golf ahead of the start of the Ashes.