“I call him my life coach”: Matt Renshaw applauds Usman Khawaja’s role in his life ahead of potential Test comeback in New Years Test at the SCG

Australia will miss the services of Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc in the 3rd test against South Africa at the SCG, and Cricket Australia have named Matt Renshaw and Ashton Agar in the side as replacements. Matt Renshaw has certainly banged the selection door with his performances.

The 26-year-old opener last played for Australia in 2018, when he was called up to the team after the sandpaper gate in South Africa. He has so far played 11 tests for Australia, where he has scored 636 runs at 33.47 with the help of 1 century and 3 half-centuries.

The domestic performances of Renshaw have been great for Australia in Shield Cricket, where he scored 410 runs last season, and he has scored a double-century this season as well. It is almost unlikely that he will get a place in the playing 11, but keeping the Indian tour in mind, it is an important callup.

Matt Renshaw applauds Usman Khawaja’s role ahead of potential Test comeback

Matt Renshaw has applauded Usman Khawaja’s role in his comeback to the Australian test side for the 3rd test vs South Africa. Renshaw has said that he is very close to Khawaja, and he has been an important pillar in his comeback story. Khawaja is the captain of Queensland in the domestic circuit.

Earlier, Khawaja also had a lot of praise for Renshaw, and he called Renshaw the possible candidate to replace David Warner as the long-term Australian opener. Renshaw called Khawaja his life coach and said that he was with him in all his ups and downs.

“He’s (Khawaja) someone I’m quite close to,” Renshaw said.

“I call him my life coach. He hasn’t accepted the role, but unfortunately for him it’s not a role that you can accept – it’s just given to you.”

“He knows me quite well, he knows when I’m up or down, and knows when I need to be checked in line as well.”

The journey was not at all smooth for the Queensland batter as he was dropped from the Shield side in 2020, and he said that the mental break helped him to get his focus back.