PAK vs AUS | I was really struggling from start: Usman Khawaja on battling in Lahore heat

The Australian opener Usman Khawaja continued his magnificent touch with the bat in the ongoing series against Pakistan as the southpaw slammed yet another valuable knock of 91 runs on the first day of the final test in Lahore. It wasn’t an easy task for him at all as he toiled hard in the middle and showed utmost patience and determination by facing 219 deliveries. 

However, the stylish left-handed batter has later revealed what he was going through right from the start of Australia’s first innings. Khawaja said that he was feeling a bit unwell, and Lahore’s heat only aggravated his misery. 

“I was really feeling it today. I was really struggling from the start. The heat, I was a little bit sick, too. Got some medication off doc in between the breaks, I wasn’t feeling well at all. It was more of a mind game for me, on some level I was really struggling to be out there”, Khawaja said. 

Despite not feeling cent percent alright, Khawaja showed enormous mental toughness and battled hard on the field for his masterful 91. He admitted to being satisfied with his performance.  

“I was just telling myself ‘Keep going, go as long as you can, keeping pushing through’ then to push through for five hours, when I felt absolutely horrible through the day, I take more out of that than anything”, Khawaja said. “Could easily have gone harder, played a big shot, got out for 20 or 30. I felt horrible today so it was actually a win getting 90. I am actually really happy with it”, he further added. 

Khawaja mentioned the Lahore surface as the toughest one in the series so far and said that it took him a mammoth effort to score on the pitch that kept the ball low at times. According to him, the ball started reversing as early as the 12th over and some deliveries even deviated off the cracks, which made it further difficult for the Aussie batters. Looking at the pitch condition, Khawaja reckoned that 350 would be a challenging first innings total on the track. 

“The ball was going down a lot, a lot of balls hit the toe of the bat, felt if anything I was more likely to get out the ball rolling under my bat which is weird on a day-one wicket. It reverse-swung from the 12th or 13th over the whole way through the day so made scoring quite difficult”, Khawaja said. “There were a couple of balls that did grip a lot off the straight. There’s no rough there so assuming they are hitting cracks. It’s good sign for us. Hopefully, we get everything right in the field. If we get close to 350 think that will be a really good total on this wicket”, the Aussie opener further added.     

Australia are stranded at 235-5 at the end of Day-1 with Alex Carey (11 of 21 deliveries) and Cameron Green (20 of 49 deliveries) at either end of the 22 yards.