{"id":201071,"date":"2022-03-03T03:01:15","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T04:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=201071"},"modified":"2022-03-03T22:59:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T22:59:19","slug":"chappell-backs-forgotten-man-to-oust-khawaja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=201071","title":{"rendered":"Chappell backs forgotten man to oust Khawaja"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cricket legend Ian Chappell is "not convinced" Usman Khawaja<\/a> is the right man for a full-time role at the top of the batting order for the Australian Test team.<\/p>\n

Khawaja is set to partner David Warner in the opening pairing when the series in Pakistan gets underway tomorrow afternoon (AEDT).<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old was recalled to the Test team during the summer's Ashes series, and marked his comeback with twin centuries at the Sydney Cricket Ground.<\/p>\n

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Khawaja averages 42.45 from 46 Test matches. But his average when opening the batting rockets to 71.57 from nine innings.<\/p>\n

\"Chappell<\/p>\n

On Wide World of Sports' Outside the Rope<\/em><\/a>, it was put to Chappell that Khawaja has now amended the deficiencies in his game that hampered his early career, specifically the ability to play spin bowling.<\/p>\n

Chappell believes Khawaja still has those deficiencies, but it may not matter as he doesn't expect the Pakistan decks to produce much turn.<\/p>\n

"I'm not convinced," Chappell said.<\/p>\n

"In Pakistan he might be fine. I don't think they should be opening with Khawaja, I think that's a mistake.<\/p>\n

"In Pakistan it will probably be fine. And you haven't got that many options, because I don't think (Marcus) Harris is really that good.<\/p>\n

"Khawaja, I think if he gets on something that really spins you will see those weaknesses appear again. But I'm not sure you'll see that in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

"Sri Lanka and India will be a totally different kettle of fish. Khawaja is probably the right bloke to open in Pakistan, but they might have some problems in Sri Lanka and India."<\/p>\n

In an ideal world, Australia would have young gun batter Will Pucovksi<\/a> available to open the batting full-time.<\/p>\n

But the 24-year-old has struggled to get on the field due to ongoing concussion issues, and he is currently once again sidelined<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Victorian opener Marcus Harris was the man dumped for Khawaja mid-Ashes, and he has failed to impress in 14 Test matches to date.<\/p>\n

Chappell believes the answer could be right under the nose of selectors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Queensland batter Matthew Renshaw was considered Australia's next big thing when he debuted in 2016. But he's been forgotten about after only 11 Test matches in which he averaged 33.47.<\/p>\n

"The bloke I think who got unfairly dealt with was the left-hander from Queensland, Matthew Renshaw. But he struggled to make runs," Chappell said.<\/p>\n

"They dropped him on poor first-class form, not poor Test cricket form, and I think if you are going to be dropped from Test cricket it should be because you're showing poor Test form."<\/p>\n

Australia begins its series against Pakistan at Rawalpindi tomorrow.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cricket legend Ian Chappell is "not convinced" Usman Khawaja is the right man for a full-time role at the top of the batting order for […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201071"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201073,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201071\/revisions\/201073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}