Having plenty of options in the artillery has helped me play spin better: Khawaja

Australia’s Usman Khawaja, who has been in mind-boggling form in Pakistan having notched up scores of 97, 160 and 44* in 3 innings, believes adding options to his artillery has helped him become a better player of spin and excel in turning tracks in Asia. 

Khawaja averaged a mere 14.63 in his first 9 innings in Asia, but the southpaw has been a transformed batter since 2018, accumulating a staggering 527 runs in his last 6 innings in the continent, passing the 85-run mark four times. With 301 runs to his name Khawaja is the highest run-getter in the ongoing Pakistan-Australia series, and the 35-year-old has tormented the Pakistan spinners through his range of strokes that have included both the conventional sweep and reverse sweep.

According to the southpaw, adding strokes to his arsenal has helped him manipulate the field better and put pressure back on the bowler.

"It's all about options, so I can sweep, I can reverse sweep, I can use my feet, I can hit over the top," Khawaja said of his changed modus operandi against spin on turning pitches, reported cricket.com.au.

"I have plenty of options in my artillery now to use as I want, to manipulate the field to put pressure back on the bowler because if you just get stuck without putting pressure back on the bowler, you're really just a sitting duck waiting to get taken off, especially as a left-hander.

"We deal with more rough (on dry pitches) than the right-handers do, it's a harder game for us on the subcontinent.”

The 35-year-old revealed that the reverse-sweep, in particular, has helped him enhance his game against spin and added that, unlike previously, he now sees facing spinners as an ‘opportunity to score’.

"When I was younger my scoring rate would definitely be lower against spin, but I love playing against spin now and every time a spinner comes on I feel like it's an opportunity to score runs and get the game moving forward.

"I know it (reverse sweep) puts a lot of pressure back on the bowler when I'm doing it well, which is most times.

"There will be times when I get out, same as I'll get out cover driving the ball, but nobody ever says 'Oh, why is Uzzie cover driving?'."

It is only now, 11 years after making his Test debut, that Khawaja has mastered the art of playing the reverse-sweep, and the veteran believes that it’s imperative to tell youngsters to not be afraid to look stupid to learn a new skill.

The 35-year-old revealed that, during net sessions, he initially failed miserably whilst attempting to play the reverse, but leveled-up gradually before finding the courage and confidence to finally execute the stroke at the Test level.

"It's the hardest thing about trying to learn a new skill, and I even talk about it to young cricketers – don't be afraid to look stupid to learn a new skill," he said.

"It's really hard, you start playing a reverse sweep and you get out like 10 times in a (net) session and I'm sure people around you are going 'What is he doing?'.

"But you're not going to grow as a player unless you try and push the envelopes a little bit.

"That happened for ages, maybe two or three months.

"It took me a long time and then I remember I hit a few in grade cricket and I was like 'okay, okay'.

"Then I did one in domestic cricket and I thought 'okay, all right' and then I finally had the courage to do it in Test cricket, at international level.

"It doesn't just happen, you've got to look silly and it's really hard as a batsman or even as a bowler to try something and to look silly in the nets.

"People will always look at you and judge you in a lot of ways, so that's probably the hardest thing to overcome but once you get past that it can be pretty rewarding."