Usman Khawaja - Australia's rock at top, but for how much longer? Defining Ashes loading

Usman Khawaja will meet his fate in Ashes [Source: @CallMeSheri1_/X.com]

For the better part of four years, Usman Khawaja has felt like the calm at the top of Australia’s batting order. He has been a steadying presence in a team that has otherwise ridden waves of transition, injury, and uncertainty. 

His return to Test cricket in early 2022 has often been framed as a fairy tale, and in many ways it was.

Twin hundreds at the SCG, a rebirth on subcontinental surfaces that once tormented him, and a golden stretch in which Khawaja became Australia’s most prolific batter.  

But fairy tales have endings, and as the Ashes 2025 creeps closer, so does the uncomfortable question: how long can Australia keep leaning on a 38-year-old opener whose returns have begun to slow?

---

ALSO READ

Australia's top-order conundrum: What should be their top-3 for the Ashes opener?

---

Usman Khawaja, 38, racing against time

(Table - Usman Khawaja's Test stats since 2023)

This is not a narrative anyone in Australian cricket wants to confront. Usman Khawaja is respected, admired, and, until recently, indispensable. Yet the numbers are no longer as kind as they once were. 

Since the end of the Ashes 2023, he has crossed fifty only a handful of times in more than thirty innings. In isolation, that kind of lean patch is survivable. 

But when combined with age, the technical pressures of facing world-class pace, and the looming challenge of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, the picture becomes more complicated. 

Australia’s dilemma: Loyalty vs Logic

The selectors’ faith in Usman Khawaja has been unwavering, almost stubbornly so. When Khawaja returns to the Sheffield Shield, he still piles up runs, often more consistently than anyone else auditioning for his job.

That, ironically, is part of the problem. Australia doesn’t have an obvious successor ready to take over tomorrow. 

Jake Weatherald has shown promise, Sam Konstas looks like a future star, and Nathan McSweeney’s name pops up often. But none are yet the clear, complete package required to walk into an Ashes stage and instantly survive.

So the selectors keep coming back to the known quantity. The seasoned warrior. The man who has done it before. But for how long? 

The technical cracks are no longer invisible

(Table - Usman Khawaja's Test stats vs above mentioned fast bowlers)

The recurring issue isn’t only age or output, it’s predictability. In the past two years, fast bowlers around the wicket have found him with increasing ease. 

That angle, once a line he countered with soft hands and flawless judgement, now exposes a slight hesitation in his footwork and a tendency to jab rather than trust his timing.

Jasprit Bumrah exposed the vulnerability. Others followed the blueprint. Siraj, Rabada, Henry, and Shamar Joseph all found success by relentlessly probing that channel.

Usman Khawaja has never been the type to panic. He shrugs and speaks about “ebb and flow”, a phrase that has become his philosophy in the back half of his career. 

And to his credit, when the pitches flatten or the pace lessens, he still looks like himself. Still graceful. Still Khawaja.

But Ashes cricket is rarely forgiving. And England’s attack, if healthy, will be the quickest he has faced since his comeback.

A career nearing its cliff, but not yet falling

(Table - Khawaja's Ashes stats)

If Australia were blessed with two ready-made openers banging the door down, this conversation might already be over. Usman Khawaja would walk away gracefully, on his own terms, perhaps at the SCG, the ground he has long dreamt of as his farewell stage.

But the timing is off. Australia doesn’t want to rush Konstas. They don’t fully trust Weatherald. They aren’t ready to repurpose Marnus Labuschagne.

That leaves Khawaja, still dependable, still productive enough, still holding off the inevitable with grit and self-belief.

The irony is that he has been here before. In 2019, he was dropped and believed his Test career was over. He rebuilt himself, mentally and technically, into the opener who became Australia’s best batter for two straight years. 

Because of that journey, Usman Khawaja refuses to engage in talk of “the end”. He says he’ll step aside when the team needs him to, not because public pressure demands it.

But cricket doesn’t always wait for perfect endings.

Ashes 2025: The final Test of faith

Privately, even Usman Khawaja must know the stakes. This Ashes 2025 may not just shape the series, it may decide his future.

A strong campaign, and he likely earns the right to walk out at the SCG next summer for a farewell he deserves.

A poor one, and Australia may finally find itself forced into a transition it has long delayed. Selectors who have been criticised for avoiding tough calls might have no choice but to make one.

Because if not now, then when?

Usman Khawaja is already the oldest opener Australia has fielded in decades. He will turn 39 during the Ashes. The physical demands of facing Archer, Wood, and Australia’s own expectations will test him in ways even his renaissance didn’t.

So, how long will Australia back him?

The honest answer is this: ‘As long as he is the best available option, but not a minute longer.’

His past buys time. His Shield record buys more. His calmness in chaos adds value no statistic can measure. But the clock is ticking, and the margin for errors that once didn’t matter now carries more weight.

Australia will stick with Usman Khawaja through the Ashes 2025 because they have to. But beyond that? His future may hinge on a handful of innings played under unforgiving scrutiny.

Usman Khawaja has written many chapters in his unlikely second act. The question now is whether he has one last great one left or whether the Ashes becomes the moment the story finally reaches its final page.

---

ALSO READ

Potential Replacements Of Usman Khawaja In Australia's Squad For 2025-27 WTC Cycle

---