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“They have a lot of time left in them”: Andrew McDonald relaxed about David Warner and Usman Khawaja’s future as Test opening pair

Rishikesh Sharma
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David Warner and Usman Khawaja will be 36 soon, but the Australian coach Andrew McDonald is relaxed about their future.

David Warner and Usman Khawaja will be 36 soon, but the Australian coach Andrew McDonald is relaxed about their future.

The Australian team recently drew the test series against Sri Lanka. Australia won the first test, but they crumbled in the 2nd test together. Although, it is not a bad result considering the Sri Lankans whitewashed them on the last tour.

Australia’s performance in the tests has been great lately where they won the Ashes at home and also won the away series against Pakitan. They are well placed to qualify for the World Test Championship’s final as well. Although, the Australian team is quite close to going through the transition period.

The majority of the Australian first-team players are above 30, and it is inevitable that a transition period will loom soon upon them.

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Andrew McDonald relaxed about the future of David Warner and Usman Khawaja

The opening duo of David Warner and Usman Khawaja has done well for the Aussies. However, both of them will be 36 this year, and there have been concerns over the future of their combination. Both of them have been opening together since the mid-ashes for the Aussies.

Usman Khawaja has been great for the Aussies since his return, where he has scored 888 runs at an average of 98.66. Warner has not been that great, but there is absolutely no doubt over the quality of the veteran southpaw. Australian coach Andrew McDonald has said that he is not worried about the future of both southpaws.

McDonald said that many players have done on the other side of 35, and both of them can do the same as well. He believes that both Warner and Khawaja have a lot of cricket left in them.

“Everyone talks about the wrong side of 35. Is there such a thing as the right side of 35?” Andrew McDonald said to cricket.com.au.

“We’ve seen players perform on the other side of 35 as well. So we don’t look at the right or wrong side of 35.”

“We look at the performances they’re putting out. And we still think they have a lot of time left in them with the challenges that we’ve got in front of us.”

McDonald said that they would want to make sure that both Khawaja and Warner don’t go together during the transition period. Matt Renshaw, Henry Hunt and Will Pucovski are some of the younger players aiming for that opening spot of the Australians.

About the author

Rishikesh Sharma

Rishikesh Sharma

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An engineering graduate and an ardent sports fan, Rishikesh Sharma is covering cricket for three years now after not making peace with a corporate life and has written more than 5000 articles. While Sourav Ganguly made him fall in love with the sport, Brendon McCullum and Gautam Gambhir enhanced it. Apart from cricket, Rishikesh is a huge fan of Liverpool FC. When not watching sports, you will find him riding around Jaipur.

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