30 Spectacular Facts We Bet You Never Knew Before About Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja, one of the best batsmen of the Australian Cricket Team, till date, holds the record for scoring the second highest individual score in a Day-Night Test innings. Here are some facts about the Australian cricket player:

1.  Usman Khawaja or Uzzie, as he is popularly known is the 7th foreign born Australian and first Muslim to represent Australia in cricket. He bats left-handed.
2.  He was born Usman Tariq Khawaja on December 18, 1986, in Islamabad, Pakistan. He is the youngest of three children to Tariq Khawaja and Fozia Tariq. His family moved to New South Wales, Australia when he was 5 years old along with his brothers, Arsalan and Nauman.
3.  His family settled down in a small apartment on Cook Road, Centennial Park before moving over to bigger house in Erksine Park in Penrith, when his father got a steady job as an IT architect.
4.  Khawaja married his partner Rachel McLellan in a lavish Sunshine Coast ceremony on April 6, 2018. The pair who met through mutual friends in 2015, became engaged on December 14, 2016, and the bride converted to Islam before the marriage.
5.  In December 2018, Khawaja’s brother Arsalan Khawaja, was arrested on charges of attempting to pervert justice and forgery after he allegedly used fake terror plot to set-up his colleague over personal grievance. He was rearrested after being granted a bail for influencing a witness.
6.  Khawaja attended Westfields Sports High School and later earned a degree in Aviation from University of New South Wales. He earned his commercial pilot license well before he got his driving license.
7.  Khawaja was subjected to racism when he shifted to western Sydney and at school was called things by other kids that he had never heard before. The ‘curry muncher’ prefixed by four letter word, was one of the more popular ones that particularly hurt.
8.  Growing up with everything that was going on in his childhood he started to resent the Australian cricket team and as he grew up thing changed radically. In high school he was a diehard Australian team supporter.
9.  At 16 years and 325 days Khawaja became the youngest player to make Randwick Petersham’s 1st Grade team when he debuted against West at Coogee Oval on November 8, 2003, and scored 8 runs. He went on to lead the club as the its highest scoring batsman with 5,620 runs in 12 seasons.
10.  In 2005, playing for the New South Wales Under-19 team in the Australian Under-19 championship, he was declared ‘Player of the Tournament’ in Perth.
11.  Khawaja was selected as the opening batsman for the 2006 U-19 World Cup, held in Sri Lanka. He scored 77 against West Indies U-19 and against Pakistan U-19 in the semi-finals, he top scored with 59 for losing cause. He aggregated 140 runs in 4 matches with an average of 35.00.
12.  His batting prowess with Sydney grade cricket where he amassed 907 runs at 60.47 average, propelled him to first-class debut for New South Wales against Victoria, in February 2008, at Sydney for the Pura Cup. He had memorable debut by scoring 85 runs down the order in the first innings tie.
13.  He firmly cemented his place at No. 6 in the New South Wales side with two consecutive double centuries for his State Second XI in 2009 and ended his first season with his state aggregating 97 runs in 3 innings.
14.  He scored 554 runs in 14 innings at an average of 42.61, with highest score of 172 not out against Western Australia in March. He had 2 centuries and a fifty in the 2008-09 season to his name.
15.  Khawaja started the 2009-10 season with three centuries in the Sheffield Shield tournament. He was the third highest run getter for his state with 698 runs in 12 innings at an average of 56.93, including 3 centuries and 3 fifties.
16.  He made his List-A debut on October 22, 2008, against South Australia, for the Ford Ranger Cup at Adelaide. He aggregated 54 runs in 2 matches in the season with 45 as the highest score against Victoria.
17.  He scored his first List-A century against South Australia for the Ruobi One-Day Cup at Sydney on December 12, 2010. He scored 121 in 105 balls with 12 fours and 4 sixes as New South Wales won by 3 runs. He was the only centurion in the season for his state.
18.  Khawaja made his Twenty20 Big Bash debut on January 2010, against Victoria and scored 13 runs in 10 balls, which was also his highest score in the season. He featured in just 2 matches.
19.  He signed up with English County side Derbyshire for the 2011 season replacing Chris Roger. He played in four County Championship matches aggregating 319 runs at an average of 39.87 with highest score of 135 against Kent. He also played 5 List-A matches scoring 155 runs with 89 not out as the highest score.
20.  He had a successful outing in his second season with Derbyshire stint when he scored 537 runs in 14 innings with highest score of 110 not out apart from 6 half centuries. His average of 48.81 was the second best for his county. He also played 7 List-A matches and 8, T20 matches in the season.
21.  Later in his career he had stint with Lancashire County for the 2014 season and in April 2018, he signed up with Glamorgan County Cricket Club to play in the 2018 Vitality Blast tournament. In 7 matches he scored 168 runs with 44 as the highest score.
22.  After scoring 2222 runs at an average of 48.30 in 30 first-class games, he moved over Queensland in 2012, which turned out to be a career and life changing event.
23.  In August 2015, he was appointed as the captain of Queensland cricket team. Since moving to Queensland six season ago, he has scored 1913 runs in 24 first-class matches at an average of 50.34 with 5 centuries.
24.  Though Khawaja was named in the squad for the 2010-11 Ashes series, he made his debut in the fifth Test match at Sydney on January 3, 2011, replacing injured Rickey Ponting. He made 37 and 21 batting one drop in the match.
25.  During the tour of India in 2013, just before the third Test, He was suspended along with three other team mates for discipline breach. The four failed to make a presentation as requested by coach Mickey Arthur, on how to improve team’s performance following defeats in the opening two Tests.
26.  On November 5, 2015, Khawaja scored his maiden Test century in the first Test against New Zealand, at Gabba, Brisbane. He scored 174 with 16 fours and 2 sixes. He has to date 8 centuries and 14 fifties to his name.
27.  He opened the innings for Australia in his maiden Twenty20 match on January 31, 2016, against India, at Sydney. He was out caught behind to Ashish Nehra after scoring 14 runs in 6 balls.
28.  Khawaja became the first Australian to score a century in a day/night Test match, when he scored 145 against South Africa in November 2016. He also holds the record of second highest individual score in a day/night test innings.
29.  He played his first Test match against country of birth, Pakistan on December 15, 2016, at the Gabba. He was waiting for the change room locker to be opened, when a Queensland lady mistook him to be Pakistani and went to open Pakistan change room, before Khawaja said ‘No, I’m that way, thank you.’
30.  He was picked in the Australia’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup being held in England & Wales. In 9 matches he scored 316runs at an average of 35.11, with 2 half centuries before he picked up hamstring injury to rule him out of semi-final match.
31.  Usman Khawaja Net Worth: $1 Million