Ashes 2023: 'What you see is what you get,' Usman Khawaja drops the hammer on naysayers

Usman Khawaja's Edgbaston hundred in the opening Ashes 2023 game has got everyone talking. The elegant opening batsman is in the thick of his purple patch at the moment, having scored as many as 7 hundreds and 7 fifties in the past 18 months as opposed to the 6 hundreds he made in the first 11 years of his career. It is evident that he is more confident and convinced about his talent than ever. Runs have come at comfort for Khawaja and this current hot streak of his has surely dispelled almost everything that critics had against him so far. 

In short, there is nothing astonishing about Usman Khawaja piling on the runs because his best version, quite perhaps, is here in this moment in all its glory. But what's surprising is the celebration that followed the Edgbaston hundred-scoring run which revealed everything that's upgraded in the system, from the relentlessness to the force of personality and everything in between. 

"The celebration tells you everything," said Nasser Hussain on air as Usman Khawaja expelled a huge roar taking the momentous single, slinging and dropping the bat on the ground as he inched closer to his dressing room in a semi-chest-thumping fashion.

The bat drop was perhaps the money shot and this was enunciated even further when the gesture became the subject of the first question at the post-match press conference. Khawaja would walk in painting the prettiest of pictures, carrying his adorable 3-year-old daughter Aisha in his arms and drawing endearing 'awws' from the media present. It wasn't a gimmick on his part, one could tell, but more of an expression that unwittingly meant to convey that he is extremely comfortable being who he is at the moment and that he has no qualms in presenting that side to the rest of the world.

"I guess it was a bit more emotional than normal. I feel like I am saying this all the time, the same thing happened in India. Not that I have a point to prove but it's nice to go out and score runs for Australia in the Ashes, just to show everyone that the 10 years haven't been a fluke," he said, meaning that he, quite indeed, had to settle a few things this time around.

"But aren't you supposed to kind of mellow as you get older? Do you feel like it's going the other way?" came the next question, drawing another smile from the New South Wales southpaw. It seemed posed in a manner as though Khawaja was at an interesting coming-of-age moment and the batter, too, acknowledged that in a way by saying that, in fact, he is way more comfortable with himself nowadays.

"When I was younger, I was probably a bit worried about what it may look like when things might happen now. Now, what you see is what you get. This is Usman and I don't try to hide it. I'm not perfect, I make mistakes - I do everything. But I'm happy to be out there - it showed - to show everyone the real me. They respect it more and I think I enjoy it more," he added.

Usman Khawaja's hundred also comes at a crucial point not only in terms of the occasion but also as a way of culture, wherein Australia is trying to battle England's Bazball with its doggedness. The opening day saw Baz McCullum and Ben Stokes' concocted aggressive approach get underway in its most rhythmic flow and it seemed as though the Aussies' defensive response was an allusion to their disorientation. And if it wasn't for Usman Khawaja's display of tenacity and rigour on the following day, Pat Cummins & Co. were looking at a big defeat in the opening game of the Ashes.