Clarke has doubts over Khawaja returning to Test side

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke is unconvinced by the need for Usman Khawaja to return to the side in Adelaide, although he believes the selectors will recall him for the third Test.

Khawaja was ruled out of the Gabba Test after failing to recover from the back spasms he suffered in Perth, where he was forced down to No. 4 in the first innings and was then unable to bat in the second after a recurrence of the injury. That meant Travis Head partnered Jake Weatherald at the top in the run chase, where they added 75, with the pair continuing 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."

Greg Blewett argued that Australia should stick with the current opening combination. "I'm keeping the batting order the same," he said. "I think that functioned really well up there for the second Test match so I'm not touching that, although if Usman Khawaja's fit then they may bring him back, but I'm not touching it."

While Khawaja had long been locked into Australia's plans at the top of the order, there had been scrutiny over his form with a downward trend since the 2023 Ashes. He is averaging 31.84 since that series with one hundred in 45 innings.

One option that has been floated is Khawaja returning in the middle order with coach Andrew McDonald saying "he does have flexibility." When Khawaja made his comeback in early 2022, he batted No. 5 at the SCG and scored twin hundreds before quickly moving up to open.

Queensland team-mate Matt Renshaw said that Khawaja would be able to take on any role offered to him.

"Uzzy is a world-class player," Renshaw told SEN Radio. "He can slot in anywhere - he's an unreal player of spin and can face fast bowling. Head has been doing an amazing job as opener, so there is absolutely a role for Uzzy to play at five and he averages 250 [238] batting at five in Test cricket."

However, former Australia batter Mike Hussey believes that if he is passed fit, Khawaja should return to his opening role and partner Weatherald in what was the original plan for the series.

"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."