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Usman Khawaja disappointed not to be picked for Australian ODI squad

Just when the touring Australia 'A' were feeling more at home in Chennai, having won the two-match four-day 'Test' series 1-0 and the four tri-series league matches comfortably, three of them with bonus points, reality struck on Friday.

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1. Usman Khawaja had a good tour of India, making runs in both the 'Tests' and tri-series2. All-round performance by Gurkeerat Singh (left) stopped Australia A's undefeated run on tour as India 'A 'won the tri-series final in Chennai on Friday
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Just when the touring Australia 'A' were feeling more at home in Chennai, having won the two-match four-day 'Test' series 1-0 and the four tri-series league matches comfortably, three of them with bonus points, reality struck on Friday.

The Australians were done in by a fine all-round performance by India A's Gurkeerat Singh in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The 25-year-old from Punjab took 2/42 with his off-breaks in 10 overs to restrict Australia 'A' to 226/9 in 50 overs and followed it up with a match-winning 87 not out off 85 balls with seven fours and two sixes as India 'A' chased down the target in the 44th over with four wickets in hand to win the tri-series title.

In doing so, the Unmukt Chand-led India 'A' salvaged some pride in the limited-overs after the side led by Cheteshwar Pujara lost the two-match 'Test' series 0-1 preceding the limited-overs tri-series also involving South Africa 'A'.

A lot has been happening personally for Usman Khawaja, the Pakistan-born Australia 'A' captain on this trip. Last week, he was named the new Queensland captain in Australian domestic cricket, taking over from James Hopes. He scored runs aplenty in the limited-overs leg of the tour, finishing as the third highest with 267 runs from four visits to the crease including a century and two half-centuries, the second of which – an 88-ball 76 came in a losing cause in Friday's final.

However, Khawaja, who has scored the most runs in Australia's one-day tournament for Queensland in 2014-15 with 523 runs at 74.71 and was the second highest with 426 runs at 71.00 in the previous season, was disappointed at not being selected in the new-look Australian One-day squad that will take on Ireland (one-off game) and England (5 ODIs) from August 27 to September 13 in the British Isles.

While seven of his Australia 'A' mates have got the ODI nod – Marcus Stoinis, Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Cameron Boyce – and will head to England from Chennai, the 28-year-old left-handed top-order batsman will return home to domestic cricket.

Khawaja said in Chennai on Friday: “When I found out (about the non-selection), I was very disappointed. I thought I was next in line but obviously I did not fit the team. That's selection, that's cricket. It happens. I am not the first person to be disappointed not to be selected. I played some very good cricket in Australia the last couple of one-day series when I was the leading run scorer over there (2013-14 and 2014-15).

“I have also performed well here (in Chennai) but they are still not good enough to get selected. I am fine and looking forward to going home and playing some more cricket.”

Khawaja, who has had a taste of Test cricket, playing in nine matches from January 2011 to August 2013 besides turning out in three ODIs, said his team has gained a lot of experience on their India tour.

“We are very happy,” he said about the tour. “For us, batting in these conditions was a little tricky. We will take more out of the four-day matches. For one-day cricket, the wicket was quite good. For the four-day games, it turned.

We outplayed India 'A' in both the games. It is a learning experience for everyone. We have some really young batsmen and bowlers, the more they get to play in these conditions and learn how to play here, the better it is for us. This tour is a big learning experience. Hopefully, when they come back with the big Australian team, they will be better for it. It is always going to be tough for us in India. India's senior team is very good. It is always tough for us (here),” Khawaja said.

Despite Friday's loss, their only defeat on tour, Khawaja was pleased with his team's effort in the final. 

“We did not build enough partnerships when we batted. We have had four wins with three bonus points before the final. We did not get in a partnership to set up the last 10 overs for us (in the final). A total of 270 would have been competitive. We did everything we could but did not have enough runs on the board. That happens, and unfortunately it was today (Friday).”

Khawaja, who managed only two half-centuries in his brief Test career for Australia, praised his bowlers, among whom left-arm spinner Agar stood out in the series with a series-high 12 scalps.

Speaking about his bowlers' effort in the title clash, Khawaja, the first Muslim to play for the Australia Test side, said: “We bowled well. It took India 'A' 44 overs to get to 227 target. They got a little partnership. Gurkeerat got 87 runs and steered that innings, getting India 'A' over the line. That's what you need. We bowled pretty well even till the end. We tried to get wickets, which we could not. India 'A' batted sensibly. If we had a few more runs, we could have strangled them.”

There was an unsavoury end to the Australia 'A' tour when Khawaja claimed that home team wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson spat at the feet of his fielders when the Indian came out to bat. But the Aussie did not want to make an issue out of it.

There is a little bit of history to Australia 'A' and Samson, when the India 'A' wicket-keeper claimed a bump catch off Khawaja in a league match. There were some exchange of words when Samson walked in with India 'A' needing 85 more with four wickets in hand.

Khawaja said: “Sanju spat three times in front of the players' feet. We tried to explain to the umpires, they were not really understanding. Spitting is not on. He spat when he came on the field (to bat). He can say something back, he is allowed to say. But I don't want to make a big deal. I don't want to take any credit away from India 'A'. They won, they beat us. Unfortunately this happened. Last time, there was a little incident with the one of the bowlers, Sandeep Sharma. He was coming back at us harder.”

KHAWAJA FOR AUSTRALIA 'A' IN INDIA

Four-day matches:

25, 12 in 1st 'Test' (July 22-25)
33, 41* in 2nd 'Test' (July 29-August 1)

Tri-series:
73 vs South Africa 'A' (August 5)
100 vs India 'A' (August 7)
18 vs India 'A' (August 10)
76 vs India 'A' (final, August 14)

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