'Doing all right': Retirement trend Uzzie wants to buck
Australian Test opener Usman Khawaja believes he's more than truly capable of continuing to play into his forties.
Khawaja will turn 38 in December right as the Australian summer of cricket kicks into top gear.
David Warner, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden all played their last Tests at 37.
But Khawaja is still in the form of his career. He won the ICC Test player of the year in 2023, and has averaged over 50 in Tests since his return to the team in 2022.
Usman Khawaja during the Boxing Day Test.
When asked by Wide World of Sports how long he reckons he has left in him, Khawaja laughed.
"I'm still in good nick! I'm playing every game, I reckon I'm doing all right!" he said with a laugh.
"But honestly, I'm still enjoying the games, I feel like I can still perform at the highest level.
"I just won ICC Test player of the year. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to win that, particularly two or three years ago when I was out of the Test side.
"A lot has happened since then, and I'm really enjoying playing in this cricket team right now.
Close friend David Warner will play his last game of cricket for Australia at the T20 World Cup aged 37.
"I feel like I can continue to do it for the foreseeable future, but I never look too far ahead. So whether that's one, two, three years, I have no idea.
"I'm sort of just rolling with it now, but I'm not giving myself a timeline. Every day is a gift. I'm just really just enjoying playing for Australia and being a part of the process every single day."
Khawaja is in the middle of the first significant break from cricket in more than 18 months. He didn't play in the IPL, isn't in the Australian side for the T20 World Cup, and at is stands doesn't have an Major League Cricket side.
He hasn't so much as picked up a bat since arriving home from the short tour of New Zealand in March. Instead, he's playing golf – his handicap is 6.5 – and spending time with his family.
Khawaja has put his longevity in the game down to a cycle that starts with a better understanding by coaches of how individuals prepare differently for matches. By allowing their own preparation, they perform better, and when each individual performs better, the side as a collective performs better.
And if you're still scoring runs for fun and winning Test matches, you're clearly still good enough to be there.
"I love the individuality of just not pigeonholing … every team has to train a certain way, all together," Khawaja said.
"I think that's helping me a lot (to) stay rejuvenated. Andrew McDonald and Patty (Cummins) at the top are leading the way there too.
"There's a lot of ownership in terms of individuals doing their own thing to prepare to get ready.
"Everyone's at a different spot. I'm 37 years old and doing what I feel like I need to do to get ready for Test matches, and then you've got guys like Cameron Green in his mid-twenties, who's preparing his certain way, and we're letting him learn and explore and experience that."
Khawaja is the official Prime Video ICC Men's T20 World Cup ambassador.
Each game of the T20 World Cup, including all of Australia's matches, will be exclusively live on Amazon Prime.
Australia begins its T20 World Cup campaign against Oman on June 6 (AEST).