Jackson Barrett: Usman Khawaja’s day-one century stakes claim for spot as spin specialist in sub-continent

Usman Khawaja is at risk of having top-order players go past him by the time Australia pick a team for next summer’s Ashes. But while his days playing for Australia in Australia appear numbered, he proved as he swept his way to a first-innings century in Sri Lanka on Wednesday that he is still among the country’s best players of spin. Khawaja is 38 and will be 39 after the first Test of the Ashes. For Australia’s tour of India in 2027 — the final frontier for his cricketing generation — Khawaja will be 40. It’s a long bridge, but the classy left-hander is a man that missed out on a decent chunk of his long Test career. There were almost four years between his first Test and his 10th and he spent another two-and-a-half years out of the side after he was dropped three games into the 2019 Ashes series. Australia have taken a horses-for-course approach to picking a side for this Test match, which was their reasoning for going without two-Test sensation Sam Konstas, shifting Travis Head to the top of the order and picking Josh Inglis — one of the country’s best players of spin — for his debut. These are the players they feel are best equipped to win a Test match in the sub-continent. There are no more Tests in southern Asia scheduled under the future tours program before they play India. Sri Lanka’s most dangerous bowler while Khawaja was at the crease was leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay and the opener’s reverse-sweep was an effective way of countering him. He survived a scare when he was dropped at first slip on 54 and later edged a ball sloppy Sri Lanka didn’t review. But he did the work and cashed in. If the next three innings go right for the veteran — who this week said he had no retirement plans — he might have made his case for the 2027 tour. He was the leading run-scorer for the whole series the last time Australia travelled to India.