Clarke thinks it is the end of the road for Khawaja in Tests while Mike Hussey wants Usman Khawaja to open again.
Clarke has doubts over Khawaja returning to Test side.
Although he thinks the selectors will call up Usman Khawaja for the third Test, former Australia captain Michael Clarke is not persuaded that Khawaja should rejoin the team in Adelaide.
Khawaja’s back spasms in Perth, when he was dropped to No. 4 in the first innings and was unable to bat in the second due to a recurrence of the condition, prevented him from playing in the Gabba Test. As a result, Travis Head and Jake Weatherald joined forces at the top of the run chase, adding 75. The two continued their partnership in Brisbane, where an opening stand of 77 set the tone for Australia’s first innings.
“I think the selectors will pick him,” Clarke told ESPN’s Around The Wicket. “I think he’ll be back at the top of the order. I don’t know if I would make a change, to be honest.
“I think I’ve said before, normally with senior players like that and certainly when you get to that age, you’re selected for big tournaments, either a World Cup or an Ashes series, and at the end of those, your time is done.
“Australia are 2-0 up. We’ve got someone at the top of the order that scored an unbelievable hundred. I don’t know if they need to go back to that now. I know that might be hard on Uzzy because he’s had a wonderful career and been a big player.
“His spot wasn’t spoken about before a ball was bowled in this this series, but things have changed. Australia’s dominating, their style of play is working, so I don’t know if I would go back to that.”
Former Australian batsman Mike Hussey, however, thinks Khawaja should resume his opening position and partner Weatherald in the series’ original plan if he is deemed fit.
“If you think about it, before the Ashes series started, Khawaja was at the top of the order,” Hussey told News Corp. “Would that one innings change the whole mindset of the selectors? From him being locked in as the opener for the Ashes series, to one innings later suddenly he’s just out of the team. In my mind, no.
“Just thinking about [the Perth Test] pragmatically, it wouldn’t change my thinking that much.”