The Ashes gave Khawaja a 'fairy tale' but can he write another chapter?

Usman Khawaja is intent on running his own race as far as talk about the end of his Test career goes.

There are plenty who think that race has already been run and his career should have ended before this summer. But right now, that decision appears to be in his hands and he's not giving any hints as to when he may finish.

That can change quickly. Australia's selectors have recently been accused, rightly or wrongly, of shirking the tough calls. They may face one of their toughest as a panel midway through the Ashes if Khawaja struggles early and Australia struggle more broadly.

Khawaja finds himself at a full-circle moment. He is already the oldest opener to play for Australia in over 70 years, at 38. He will be the oldest player to represent Australia in 40 years if he gets to the third Test in Adelaide, when he will turn 39 on day two.

He might not have been given the opportunity to play Test cricket so deep into his 30s if not for an extraordinary sliding-doors scenario.

In August of 2019 he had been dropped for the sixth, and what he thought was, the final time from the Test team, having played the previous 20 Tests as a permanent member of Australia's top three.

The summers of 2019-20, 2020-21, and early 2021-22 were spent batting at No. 4 for Queensland and dominating the Sheffield Shield. Then Travis Head tested positive for Covid on the eve of the 2022 New Year's Test against England at the SCG. Khawaja was recalled at age 35 and scored twin hundreds in the match batting at No. 5.

"Looking back on it, it seems like a fairy tale," Khawaja said. "It literally does. I wasn't supposed to play.

"The circumstances for me actually just to play were bizarre enough. But then to actually go out there and score a hundred in the first innings and then somehow to back it up in the next innings too. It's such a rare feat to do, particularly in an Ashes.

"It was the best individual cricketing moment of my life. So it's very special, something I'll never forget. I'm very grateful it happened."

Since that moment, Khawaja has not missed a Test match and has been statistically Australia's best batter over the four-year period, scoring more runs at a higher average than any other.

He was Player of the Series in Pakistan in 2022, made his highest Test score against South Africa in Sydney, made a century in India and was the leading run-scorer on either side in the 2023 Ashes. He was ICC Test player of the year in 2023 and a pivotal part of the 2023 World Test Championship title.

He has also become one of the team's best-ever openers despite being recalled initially in the middle order. Only three Australian openers have scored more runs at a higher average than Khawaja. His success and versatility may partially explain the selectors' belief that batting positions don't matter.

Khawaja credits his time away from the Test team as a major reason for his late-career renaissance.

"I realised that my life didn't have to be good just because I was playing cricket for Australia, which was nice to know," he said. "I think the last four years, it's allowed me to just play, just enjoy it, whether I'm playing well, whether I'm not, whether we're winning, whether we're losing.

"Just have a bit of perspective that nothing lasts forever either. So it has helped coming back. I've really enjoyed my last four years probably more so than I enjoyed any time before then, because it was the feeling, the vibe, my mentality was probably a little bit different. So, very lucky that I got to experience the last four years and enjoy playing the game that I love."

When it comes to Khawaja trying to stretch his career beyond his 39th birthday, no one can begrudge him wanting to do so, having missed multiple years of Test cricket despite being one of Australia's best six batters for most of that time.

But there is a debate as to whether he still sits in that category.

He bristles at such questions, often citing that he is Australia's leading run-scorer over the last four years and that he was ICC Test player of the year. But there is a clear dividing line between his performances in 2022 and 2023 and his last two years.

Since the end of the 2023 Ashes he has passed 50 just four times in 35 innings. Mitchell Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne have both made more 50-plus scores in the same period and both have been dropped.

The pitches Australia have played on have not helped. Khawaja has been vocal about how difficult they are, and he's not wrong. His average over the last 18 Tests is 32.78. Head, regarded by many as one of Australia's best batters right now alongside Steven Smith, has only averaged 34.16 in the same period but has two more centuries.

Khawaja also felt he had been Jasprit Bumrah-ed last summer, and Australia's hierarchy believed that was his one and only problem.

There's evidence to support that argument. Facing the non-Bumrah division of pace bowlers over the last two years, Khawaja averages the same as Smith and Head, seven runs per dismissal more than Labuschagne and more than twice as many as Sam Konstas.

But there's also evidence to suggest there are other issues against high-calibre pace bowling. While Bumrah dismissed him six times at an average of 5.66, Matt Henry, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammed Siraj have all knocked him over three times in the last two years. He averaged 31 against Siraj and under 24 against the rest, including 13 against Henry. Kagiso Rabada also bowled 28 deliveries at Khawaja in the WTC final and dismissed him twice while conceding just one run.

There is a very clear plan of attack to Khawaja now. In the last two years, fast bowlers have dismissed him 19 times from around the wicket, at a cost of just 19.47, including his last eight dismissals in a row, compared to eight dismissals at 40.87 from over the wicket.

That is a huge shift from the first 12 years of his career, where he averaged 48.08 against pace bowlers from around the wicket, and 42.30 from over.

It is those numbers, combined with the threat of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer in particular, given the latter's exceptional record against left-handers, that has led to concerns about Khawaja's position in the upcoming series. But chair of selectors George Bailey rebuked those concerns last week.

"If you look at when he goes back and plays Shield cricket, he still stacks up very well," Bailey said.

"There's a very clear method, he's an experienced player, it's a big series in terms of the intensity of spotlight, I think his experience at the crease and the other players around him can be complementary to the rest of the team.

"We've spoken a lot about the challenges of some of the wickets that the guys have played on. And I think when he goes back and he gets on the good batting surfaces, I think we've seen some good performances."

Khawaja has been the only Sheffield Shield opener over the past two years to average above 50. Campbell Kellaway (46.38) and Khawaja's potential new Test opening partner Jake Weatherald (45.11) have been the only others to average above 38.

There are parallels with the end of Ricky Ponting's career. Ponting struggled at Test level in his final summer of 2012-13 but he finished that same season as the Shield's leading run-scorer, with 911 at 75.91.

The enduring image of Ponting's finals days in the Test arena was that of him, Australia's all-time leading run-scorer, on all fours in the middle of Adelaide Oval having slipped while being clean bowled by a 129kph outswinger.

As was the case with Ponting, nothing lasts forever. The end can come quickly, even when there's evidence to the contrary at the level below.

Khawaja's faith in himself, and the selectors' faith in him, has been unshakeable over the past four years. Something that cannot be said for his first ten in Test cricket.

How long that faith lasts is up to Khawaja if he wishes to end the race on his own terms.