T20 World Cup 2024 | "As Warner's friend, want him to end on a high": Khawaja

Usman Khawaja (Pic: File Pic)

Australia's traditional opening batsman David Warner is all set to end his international career after the T20 World Cup 2024. Following this, his fellow teammate Usman Khawaja wants him to finish his career on a high.

"As a friend, I'd love to see him (Warner) finish on a high. He's been playing some really good cricket. It's been really nice to see. You can tell he's just enjoying being out there. He's playing pretty relaxed. So he should. Yeah, it would be good to see," Khawaja told PTI Videos in an interview ahead of Australia's last Super 8s match against India.

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Khawaja is confident that a shocking defeat against Afghanistan won't affect Mitchell Marsh and Co. in their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.

Even if Australia loses to India on Monday, Afghanistan will then need to win a huge margin against Bangladesh in order to better their net run rate than that of the Aussies.

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"If Australia beats India and makes it to the semi-final, I think definitely, I think they can win. I think we've just got to get to the semi-final," Khawaja said.

The veteran opening batsman also opened up about Australia lifting up their game in the knock-out stages. "I think we've shown over the years that we're a great knockout team. As soon as there's a knockout situation, more times than not we've won, but we've just got to get there."

Khawaja praised Marsh for his leadership skills and his captaincy is a reflection of the kind of person he is. "I think his captaincy is just him. It's him as a person. He doesn't try to be anything that he's not. He's relaxed. He goes out and plays the game, takes the game on, leads from the front, leads by his actions. So, I've really enjoyed watching his captaincy," he said.

Pakistan-born batsman Khawaja also acknowledged that no team is invincible but defeating India will also be a tough challenge. "I mean, India's always a threat. They have batters left, right and centre. They have great bowlers. They have excellent spinners. They have literally all bases covered. They always have. I wouldn't go out and say India's so far ahead, a better team than everyone else, because they're not. So I think on any day, any team can beat anyone, particularly in T20 cricket", he observed.

Ahead of the series against India and then the Ashes in 2025, Usman Khawaja termed both teams as the pinnacle of the game. "It's always tough to beat India in India. But in the last couple of series, India has beaten Australia in Australia, which is never nice for an Australian. So, yeah, we've got a lot to play for. It's a big series. To me, England and India are the two biggest series," he exclaimed.

He also opened up about the popularity of Test cricket in Australia and the new golden ticket initiative taken by Cricket Australia. "The baggy green is still the pinnacle of Australian cricket. I think we're very lucky in Australia. I still think we get paid really well to play Test cricket. It's not the same across the world. So, it's a little bit different for us. We don't have to try as hard. Because we have a long-standing tradition. And kids that grow up these days still want to get a baggy green," he noted.

(With PTI Inputs)