BRISBANE: Legendary Australian batsman Allan Border on Sunday advised left-hander Usman Khawaja to put in ‘tough yards’ to regain his lost form.
Khawaja, who turns 38 next week, is going through a rough patch as the opening batsman has only managed to score a half-century in his previous 21 Test innings.
The experienced batsman’s poor form continued in the five-match Test series against India, with his last failure being a 21-run knock in the first innings of the third game.
Reacting to Khawaja’s struggles with the bat, Border highlighted the latter’s age as the key factor behind the dip in form.
“Naturally, your body slows down,” Border said.
“Even when I was hitting (in my late thirties), I thought, ‘Wow, I would normally cut this.’ But I would let it go.
“It would take me a lot longer (to score runs) than it did when I was 28, just through foot movement and reaction time, to catch the ball and make the right shot.
“As I got older, you stayed in that back yard. Even coverage drives would go through one instead of four.
“It’s just these reaction times.”
Allan Border then advised Khawaja to train harder to keep his place in the team.
“He really has to make those tough yards. If that (motivation) wanes, you can almost guarantee your game will wane.
“He’s naturally a very good player… he’s worked very hard, don’t get me wrong, but (he needs to) continue to maintain that and more.
“He has a young family now, these things are starting to take priority in the game. Maybe you start saving on training, and that’s when you can stop for a while. That’s when people start to say, ‘Oh, he’s 38, maybe it’s time to move on.’
