"Usman Khawaja finds himself definitely with a chance" - Mark Waugh backs the southpaw to return for the Ashes

Former Australia great Mark Waugh has earmarked Usman Khawaja to return to the Test team in the upcoming Ashes series. Australian selectors will pick the squad for the Ashes based on Sheffield Shield performances and Usman Khawaja has impressed in the ongoing season.

Usman Khawaja has been one of the in-form cricketers in this year's Sheffield Shield season. The southpaw is playing for Queensland. He hit 174 against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval and has 207 runs under his belt in two matches.

Mark Waugh believes Usman Khawaja has to cross selectors' minds with the competition being stiff for the opening spot. Waugh said while Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski are promising players, Khawaja remains a class player even at 34. Waugh told RSN Central:

"Normally, I’d say you’d probably go past him, but with the lack of depth in that opening spot, you’ve got to think about him. He’s aged 34, we know he’s a class player; he made that 174 in the Shield match. What’s the other options? You’ve got Marcus Harris, who hasn’t played yet, but he is going to play these three Shield matches at the end of October, back-to-back."

"He averages 23 in Test cricket, he hasn’t really stamped himself.You’ve got Pu covski, who would be a walk-up starter, but once again he’s got concussion issues. So Khawaja finds himself definitely with a chance, given the lack of other guys knocking down the door."

Khawaja hasn't played for Australia since the third Ashes Test at Leeds in August 2019. The Pakistan-born cricketer often played at number three. However, Marnus Labuschagne's prolific run-scoring meant there was no place for him.

"I don’t even worry about Test selection or Test cricket anymore" : Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja remarked he is not thinking about a comeback for now and wants to win games for Queensland. The veteran, who has played 44 Tests, said the Ashes series is a significant one. Nevertheless, it's not on his mind. Khawaja stated as quoted by news.com.au.

"I don’t even worry about Test selection or Test cricket anymore. I just play the game for Queensland and do what I need to. I could have easily gone out there and got myself a nice little red ink (not out) today, but didn’t because it’s not what the team needed.People are always going to ask me about Test cricket; that’s fair enough, there is an Ashes coming up. But it’s not even in the forefront. I am just trying to win games for Queensland."

The Ashes series of 2021-22 begins on the 8th of December at the Gabba in Brisbane.