Rating Usman Khawaja's 5 best Test innings

Umesh Sharma

Usman Khawaja (Source: X) Usman Khawaja (Source: X) 

Clearing the air around the talks on his Test career, veteran Australia opener Usman Khawaja hung up his boots in international cricket. The last and fifth Ashes Test 2025-26 against England at SCG in Sydney will be his last international appearance for Australia. 

The experienced southpaw has been in the headlines since the start of the ongoing Ashes 2025-26. It all started with the injury he sustained while playing golf before the commencement of the series opener in Perth. 

However, he has been one of the go-to batters in Tests for Australia in the last 15 years since his Test debut in 2011.  That said, here’s a look at Usman Khawaja’s top 5 knocks that changed the course of the game in Australia’s favour. 

232 against Sri Lanka in Galle Test - 2025 

At the beginning of the last year, Australia toured Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series and a two-match ODI series. Both teams locked horns in the first Test at the Galle International Stadium. Stand-in Aussie skipper Steve Smith won the toss and decided to bat. 

The veteran opener Usman Khawaja lived up to his captain’s expectations and proved the decision of batting first was right. He scored a brilliant double century, hitting 232 runs, with 16 fours and a six. 

His knock, followed by the centuries of Steve Smith and Josh Inglis, helped Australia post a mammoth total of 654 runs for the loss of six wickets before declaring the innings. 

Furthermore, Aussie bowlers forced Sri Lanka into a follow-on, bundling them out at the scores of 165 and 247 runs, respectively. Eventually, the visitors won the game by a massive margin of an innings and 242 runs to take a 1-0 lead, with Khawaja winning the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his match-winning double ton.  

195* against South Africa in Sydney Test - 2023 

After taking an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match Test series with Melbourne Test victory, Australia took on South Africa in the third and last Test at the SCG in Sydney. 

The Aussie skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and asked his batters to take charge. It was Usman Khawaja who proved his skipper’s decision correct with an unbeaten knock of 195 runs off 368 balls, with 19 fours and a six. 

Khawaja was a central figure in Australia's first-innings total of 475 runs for the loss of four wickets before they declared the innings. It also included Steve Smith’s century (104), alongside half-centuries scored by Marnus Labuschagne (79) and Travis Head (70). 

Later in the game, the Aussie bowlers took over the charge from their batters and bundled out Africa at 255 runs in the first innings. Furthermore, the Proteas had scored 106 runs for the loss of two wickets before the game ended in a draw, and Australia won the three-match Test series by 2-0. 

144 against West Indies in Melbourne Test - 2015 

After a convincing win in the first Test by an innings and 212 runs in Hobart, Australia hosted West Indies in the second Test of the three-match series. The Caribbean skipper Jason Holder won the toss at the MCG and asked the hosts to bat first. Australia faced an early blow in the form of David Warner (23), who fell prey to Jerome Taylor in the fifth over of the innings. 

Then came a game-defining partnership of 258 runs for the second wicket between Joe Burns and the then number three Usman Khawaja. After Burns’ 128-run knock, Khawaja ended up being the top scorer in the Aussie innings, with his 144 runs off 227 balls, hitting six fours and a six. Australia posted 551 runs for the loss of three wickets before inviting the West Indies to bat. 

Aussie bowlers wrapped up the visitors at the score of 271 runs to take a massive 270-run lead at the end of the first innings. The hosts took this lead to 459, scoring 179 runs for the loss of three wickets in their second innings. 

While defending the 460-run target, the Aussie bowlers once again outplayed the Caribbean batters, dismissing them at the total of 282 runs, owing to Nathan Lyon’s spin brilliance. Eventually, Australia won this game by an innings and 177 runs, taking an unassailable lead in the three-match series. 

137 and 101*, The twin tons against England in Sydney Test - 2022 

England were on the tour of Australia for the Ashes 2021-22. The ‘down and out’ Englishmen had already lost the series 0-3 before they took on the hosts in the fourth Test at SCG, Sydney. 

The hosts’ skipper, Pat Cummins, opted to bat first after winning the toss. After losing the top three wickets at 117 runs, Khawaja stitched a steady partnership of 115 runs for the third wicket with Steve Smith (67).

After Smith’s dismissal, Khawaja continued to stitch partnerships with the middle order and lower-order batters. He ended playing a brilliant knock of 137 runs off 260 balls to help his side post a first-innings total of 416 runs for the loss of eight wickets before they declared their innings. 

After England was bundled out at 294 runs in their first innings, the star Aussie opener Khawaja once again shone with the bat at his fortress, the SCG. He smashed a successive century in the second innings, scoring 101 runs off 138 balls, with 10 balls and two sixes. However, the game ended as a drawn one without any result, but Khawaja was adjudged ‘Player of the Match’ for his twin tons. 

160 against Pakistan in Karachi Test - 2022 

In a string of centuries in one of his amazing calendar years, Usman Khawaja once again impressed with the bat, almost two months after his heroics against England in the home series. 

This time, his knock for Australia came on the Pakistan tour. After playing a draw in the series opener in Rawalpindi, the Aussies faced Pakistan in the second Test at the National Stadium in Karachi. 

Australia batted first after winning the toss. Khawaja scored 160 runs off 369 balls, with 15 fours and a six. His knock, followed by Steve Smith’s 72 and Alex Carey’s 93 runs, helped the visitors post 556 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the first innings. In response to Australia’s 556-run total, the hosts fumbled and were bundled out at the score of just 148 runs in the first innings. 

The Aussies batted again to declare their second innings after scoring 97 runs for the loss of two wickets. Later in their second innings, Pakistan came back strongly courtesy of Babar Azam’s 196-run knock to draw the game.