'Since the rise of India and IPL...': Usman Khawaja on Australia's desire to beat IND, 'just means a bit more'
Usman Khawaja has weighed in on how India's recent success against Australia in Test cricket has changed the rivalry Down Under.
The clock is ticking and the start of the Indian men's team's Test season draws every closer. India host Bangladesh later this month for a two-match Test series and then New Zealand for three Tests before embarking on a five-match tour of Australia with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the line. India are looking to succesfully defend the trophy, having done so the last four times on the trot. This includes twice in Australia itself under two very different circumstances, which only adds spice to an already rich rivalry.
Usman Khawaja, who is expected to open the innings for Australia in the series, has said that the two sides have been arguably the best in the world across formats for the past few years. “We're world number one, world number two teams really over the last two years. We were there at the last World Test Championship together. The rivalry has always been huge," said Khawaja on Star Sports.
The series starts on November 22. Khawaja said that he takes it as a sign of respect and a proof of how good Australia have been that Indians want to beat them. “I take it as a sign of respect and I know it that Indians love beating Australia in any sort of form of cricket. And the tradition that Australia has had over so many years as being one of the dominating teams in world cricket has staked that reputation. I think, yeah, for Indians it's always been the case to beat Australia,” he said.
'India beating Australia the last two times they came here adds to it'
Khawaja said that India's rise as the superpower of world cricket and the team's increased consistency across formats has now given Australians a similar desire to beat them. India became the first Asian team to beat Australia in a Test series Down Under in the 2018/19 series and then extraordinary repeated that feat in their next visit in 2021/22 despite most of their main players being injured or unavailable.
|And more recently, you know, since the rise of India and IPL and everything else that happened, it's the same way with Australia against India. And particularly since India's beaten Australia in Australia the last two times they've come out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It just means a little bit more," said Khawaja.
