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It does not bother me batting anywhere in top six: Khawaja
Sydney: Australian batsman Usman Khawaja today stated that he does not have any problem anywhere from one to six in the batting order. He also added that it is fine with him if he opens with David Warner against West Indies for the upcoming Boxing Day Test.
Khawaja missed the opening Test due to a hamstring injury and is now set to put it under stress again as he takes on the field for Sydney Thunder on Sunday.
“It doesn’t bother me batting anywhere in the top six, I wouldn’t want to bat seven. I’m easy, in first-class cricket I’ve batted every position from one to six. If they wanted me to bat one, three, five, I’ll still approach the game in the same sort of manner. That’s not a big deal to me,” Khawaja was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“There’s been plenty of times where I’ve been there the second ball batting, there’s not a big difference batting three or opening at times, at other times there is. Sometimes I can be in there in the 30th over batting at three, but it’s just a mindset sort of thing. I grew up all my life opening; I started playing for New South Wales (NSW) at five and six, so I’ve had a bit of both,” he said.
The 29-year-old also said he has almost recovered from the injury and is doing well now.
“I had to do some hamstring tests, they went really well, a big improvement from where I was a week ago. I’ve done fitness tests all the way through the last four weeks, yesterday was probably the final one … it tests your hamstring strength. I had to make sure I was above a certain number and make sure my left and right were within a certain number so there wasn’t a big discrepancy.”
“I got through that really well, so happy with it,” he said.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.