Australia batter Usman Khawaja has slammed Queensland Cricket boss Joe Dawes for accusing him of making himself unavailable for selection for Sheffield Shield cricket.
Dawes told a press conference on Wednesday that there was no reason Khawaja could not have played in Queensland’s final regular season match against South Australia which finished on Tuesday.
Khawaja, who has played 80 tests for Australia, spent the weekend in Melbourne at the Formula One Australian Grand Prix while his Shield teammates secured Queensland’s place in next week’s Sheffield Shield final with a draw.
Usman Khawaja told a press conference on Friday that he had been managing a hamstring strain and had logged the injury in an app used by Australia’s professional cricketers.
“Joe Dawes came out the other day and said a few inflammatory things, which is really disappointing to me as a player,” said the Australia batter.
“After that, I felt like I had to speak up and at least give my side of the story. My hammy (hamstring) is reported, everything is there, everyone knew about it,” he added.
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The Australia batter dismissed Dawes’s statement that the medical staff had no idea about his injury ahead of the side’s Sheffield Shield game.
“I was talking to the Australian (team) physio the whole time,” Usman Khawaja said.
Queensland play South Australia in the final in Adelaide from Wednesday.
Khawaja said he was not expecting an apology from Dawes and would bear no grudges over the matter.
“I’m in the middle of Ramadan right now. Islam’s very important to me. One of the things always is mending bridges,” he added.
“I’m never the kind of guy to hold grudges and to kick people out of my life, and I would never do that to anyone in Queensland Cricket,” Khawaja concluded.
