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“Series by series”: Retirement not at the front of 38-year-old Khawaja’s mind
Lachlan Geleit • January 16th, 2025 3:57 pm
Australian opener Usman Khawaja is taking his Test career on a series-by-series basis.
While the left-hander turned 38 in December and is the sixth oldest player to have played internationally in the last 12 months, Khawaja isn’t considering retirement just yet.
As long as he feels he’s still contributing to the team, Khawaja will keep playing, even though he understands that nothing lasts forever and that one day the time will naturally come to step aside.
“I’m just taking it series by series,” Khawaja told SEN Mornings.
“I still feel like I’m contributing, we're winning games, we’ve been the world's number one team for about three years now.
“We've got a very solid team in terms of bowlers, batsmen and Alex Carey behind the stumps, so I’m not looking too far ahead, it’s each series at a time.
“But I'm also mindful that nothing lasts forever at some stage there's going to have to be a time to leave the game, and I respect that.
“There’s going to have to be the next players to come up, and I'm very mindful of that too.
“But at the moment, there’s not a lot of thought of that at the moment.”
As for when that time may come, Khawaja won’t overstay his welcome as he’s in constant communication with George Bailey and Andrew McDonald about his role and the team’s makeup.
“I'm always in constant communication with the coach and George Bailey and I'm here to contribute and play for the Australian cricket team and do well,” Khawaja said.
“Either whenever that time is when I pull the pin or I feel like it's time to time to look at the next goal whenever that may be (I’ll do that).
“I don't feel like it's right now, but I'm very open to that. But at the moment, I'm just enjoying my cricket and playing for Australia.”
Khawaja next gears up for Australia’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka which begins in Galle on January 29.
