Veteran Australia player Usman Khawaja has opined on how he overcame his rough patch after a drought-breaking hundred on Day 1 of
the Galle Test against Sri Lanka as well. Khawaja said that he always lived by the belief that he never let cricket dictate his life as well.

Speaking to SEN Cricket, he stated (via India Today): “That’s really special. A hundred.. everything comes from the Almighty. I truly believe that. Whether good or bad, you take it in the same stride. Whatever is meant to be, I always believe it’s for the best, even if you can’t see it now. There have been so many ups and downs in my life where I’ve thought, ‘Oh, how bad is this?’

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“But something amazing has always come from it. So, I don’t let cricket dictate my life. I have a beautiful family and a supportive wife. There’s a lot more to life than just cricket, but I still love playing, so I’ll always try my best. I’ll always train hard behind the scenes. But, you know, the big man up there has control over everything, so at some level, I kind of let go of it too,” he added.

He also went on to pay tribute to Steve Smith, who not only completed 10000 runs but also scored a century in Galle as well. Khawaja recalled
his early days with Smith.

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“That’s special. I’ve known Smudge since he was 16. I played first grade against him, and we grew up playing for New South Wales. We’ve played for Australia for a long time. You know, I’ve batted with him more than anyone in Test cricket. We have really good camaraderie. It’s funny-we started off as boys, and now we’re men. It was just really special. I really wanted to be out there for his 10,000th run. I thought I was going to do it in Sydney, but I missed out, so I was glad I was out there today. Yeah, it’s really special. I’m very happy for him. And it’s not over yet-you’ll still see Steve and me batting tomorrow, so we look forward to it,” Usman Khwaja concluded.