Why Usman Khawaja not playing today: Why is Marnus Labuschagne not playing today’s BBl 12 Challenger between Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat?

Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques has won the bat flip and chose to bat against Brisbane Heat in Big Bash League 2022-23 Challenger at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The penultimate match of the ongoing 12th season of the Big Bash is a virtual semi-final as the winner of the match will face defending champions Perth Scorchers in the final on Saturday.

Sixers, who had lost Big Bash League 2021-22 final against Scorchers a year ago, had failed to defeat them in Qualifier last week after both the teams had finished at the top of the points table in the league stage.

Heat, meanwhile, have reached at this position in spite of finishing at the fifth position on BBL 12 ladder. Having said that, they still enter this match as a dark horse primarily due to three forced changes and their overall record against this opposition.

Why is Usman Khawaja not playing today vs Sydney Sixers?

Speaking of the home team first, Sydney have had to make a forced change to accommodate the absence of batter Steven Smith. Part of an 18-member Test squad for the forthcoming tour of Australia, the right-handed batter is on national duty at the moment. Batter Daniel Hughes has replaced Smith in the Playing XI.

The visitors will have to take the field without international batters namely Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Renshaw. Much like Smith, this trio is also part of the Test squad and will be taking no further part in BBL 2022-23. Although his travel got delayed by a day due to visa issues, Khawaja has left for India on Thursday.

Batters Sam Heazlett and Max Bryant and all-rounder Nathan McSweeney have been handed opportunities to prove their mettle in an all-important knockout match. While Heazlett is playing his first representative match in over a couple of months, Bryant and McSweeney have already played seven and three matches this season respectively.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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