Australian opener Usman Khawaja was really unlucky to be missing out on his maiden double century in the third Test against South Africa as the left-hander got stranded on 195* as the hosts declared their first innings as soon as the play resumed on Day 4 after the previous day was washed out in Sydney. More than 150 overs were already lost in the match due to rain and a wet outfield and to get a result, Australia couldn’t afford to spend even one over with the bat.
Australia declared on their overnight score of 475/4 and Khawaja was five runs short of a well-deserved double hundred. The fans soon made comparisons with former India captain Rahul Dravid’s shocking declaration in Multan Test in 2004 when Sachin Tendulkar was left stranded on 194. However, many reckoned that given the player and the person he is, Khawaja might have been the first one to ask the captain and the coach to declare without wasting any time to give themselves chance to bowl out South Africa twice in the remaining 150-plus overs.
After the end of the fourth day’s play, Cummins issued an apology to Khawaja while lauding his marathon knock on his Instagram story. “Sorry we couldn’t get the double but brilliant innings, Usman Khawaja,” Cummins wrote.
However, given how the match played out on the fifth day, it proved to be a crucial call and it still might not be enough for Australia to win the Test match with so much time already being lost but getting South Africa folded for 255 runs in the first innings, gave them some overs to bowl them out again after enforcing the follow-on. If not for a magnificent partnership between Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj, the Proteas were staring at yet another collapse and a probable loss too.
