Ashes 2025-26: ‘Home ground, a chance to win 4-1’ – Australia great wants Usman Khawaja to retire after SCG Test

Usman Khawaja (Source: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images for Cricket Australia)

Former Australian cricketer Brett Lee feels that the upcoming New Year’s Test against England during the ongoing Ashes 2025-26 will be a special way for Usman Khawaja to walk out of the game if he feels like. The fifth and final Test of the series is scheduled to be played at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground, also the home venue for Khawaja.

Lee noted how Khawaja having an opportunity to play potentially his final international match in front of his home crowd will be a memorable experience for ‘one of Australia’s greatest batters’. The ex-pacer further complimented the Aussie batter for being an inspirational figure in the Australian batting line-up over the years.

“That’ll be up to him, but it’d be a special way for him to go out, wouldn’t it? Home ground, a chance to win 4-1, but we’ll wait and see in a couple of days. Just a couple of weeks ago, he was, and has been, one of Australia’s greatest batters,” stated Lee, as quoted by The Roar.

“He’s in the team because of what he’s achieved, and he wasn’t left out due to form. He was left out because of his injury (to) his back. I don’t know what’s going on in his life, in terms of his professional cricket life, but all I can say is that he’s been instrumental for Australia. He’s been such a great role model for young kids coming through,” he added.

The 38-year-old has not been in the best of form in Tests for Australia this year. He has not been able to score substantially except a couple of innings in which he scored 232 (against Sri Lanka in January) and 82 (against England in December). Overall, Khawaja’s average has dipped to 36.11 in this year. He has not revealed when he would like to retire, despite fans and cricket pundits suggesting heavily in that direction.

There have been a lot of speculations floating around with regard to the same topic in the media of late. As a result, it will be interesting to see if the Southpaw calls it quits after the Sydney encounter, regardless of the match result.

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