"For Australia, it is about...": Khawaja's advises teammates ahead of must-win T20 WC clash against India

Melbourne [Australia], June 24 : Ahead of his side's ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights clash against India, Australia opener Usman Khawaja urged his team to move on from the shock defeat to Afghanistan and focus on the Indian challenge, while also heaping praise on the other rising Asian side, saying that they are often underestimated by people.
India and Australia take on each other in a must-win clash at Saint Lucia on Monday. India is at the top of Group One with two wins in two games and four points. They won their previous game against Bangladesh by 50 runs. On the other hand, Australia is in second place with a win and a loss, giving them two points. They lost their previous game to Afghanistan by 21 runs in a shocker. If Australia loses this game, their chances of qualifying for the semifinals will be in serious jeopardy.
Speaking ahead of the game at the launch of Prime Cafe in Melbourne, Khawaja said, "Afghanistan is a very strong team. People underestimate them. They should have beaten us in the last World Cup, but they dropped (Glenn) Maxwell a couple of times. It was not a surprise to me. If Afghanistan loses against Bangladesh, we still have a chance. We do not want to leave things to fate. We need to beat India. They are the best team in the world, pretty much. We are the top two teams. When the pressure is on, Australia in World Cups often comes out on top. But a T20I game against India is a game you do not want to miss."
Speaking further about the game, Khawaja said that the skipper Mitchell Marsh and coach Andrew McDonald would be "process-driven," while also acknowledging that it is absolutely human for them to be nervous and anxious ahead of this "do-or-die" match.
"They cannot go reinventing the wheel. We have played a lot of good T20 cricket as of late. We were cruising against Afghanistan pretty much, but that is the beauty of T20 cricket. It takes one player to win the game. In India, there are plenty of such players who can win them a game, and so do we. I think for Australia, it is about forgetting what happened against Afghanistan and moving on. It is a brand-new game," he added.
Speaking about the fine performances of Afghanistan and the USA (who reached the Super Eights in their World Cup debut), Khawaja said that such performances are great for the game, and T20 cricket has opened avenues for countries all over the world to showcase their talent.
"That is why I like T20 cricket. It introduces the sport to a part of the community that probably would not have watched it as an audience. I have watched a lot of girls and mothers get involved in the sport over the last 10 years because of T20 cricket. It brings in front of us a lot of different people from various parts of the world, like Afghanistan, You never thought the USA would make it to the Super 8s. But here they are, what a great story," he added.
On who he wants to see in the semifinals, Khawaja says that he sees Australia, India, England, and South Africa moving to the final four. Notably, England and South Africa have moved to the semifinals.
"I am worried a lot about England in particular, the way they started off the tournament, struggling and almost out. But I have seen this play before, Australia has done it in the World Cup, only to win it, Pakistan did it during the last T20 WC (in 2022) but sneaked into the finals," he added.
Squads:
India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal
Australia Squad: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh(c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade(w), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis.