Veteran Australian batter Usman Khawaja was quite honest in his assessment of his performance in the five-match Test series against India when he had mentioned that he was just (Jasprit) Bumrah-d, getting out to the pacer six times out of nine in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. As he began his preparation, Khawaja, who turned 38 last month, mentioned that he may not be done yet but doesn't want to put a timeline for his career just yet.
Now getting ready for the Sri Lanka series, Khawaja just wants to go with the flow while ensuring that he doesn't end up being that bull on the highway, who everyone is pleading to move but is refusing to without realising that it has overstayed its welcome.
"Over the next three to four years, there's going to be a lot of transition going on. I'm quite attuned to that and I still want to play and I want to keep playing for as long as I can," Khawaja was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
"But I also know there might be a right time to slip out. If I'm still playing and the selectors are like, 'We feel like the time's come', it's, 'You let me know and I can slide out'."
David Warner, Khawaja's long-time opening partner had a different way of looking at it. Warner took a call when he was satisfied with what he had achieved at the highest level across all formats but knew that he still had a couple of years in him playing-wise and went into the T20 sunset before having a dream farewell at his home ground at the SCG.
Khawaja, who also wants to play a home Ashes series, mentioned that he has thought about an SCG farewell but doesn't want to get ahead of himself.
"There's definitely those thoughts (bowing out in Sydney) in my head, I'm not afraid to talk about that. I'm human," he said.
"I'd still like to play the Ashes at a bare minimum. I try not to think too far ahead, that's as far ahead as I'll think. As long as we're winning, I'm still contributing, my body's still feeling good, I'll play. For me, it always feels more like one summer at a time (rather than retiring after the Ashes)," Khawaja added.
With the WTC final place being confirmed for Australia already, the two matches against Sri Lanka might not hold much significance but Khawaja will be keen to get some runs before playing the summit clash against South Africa in June.