Usman Khawaja has broken the silence of Australian cricketers after Justin Langer’s resignation, offering his support to the former coach.
Since Langer’s resignation on Saturday there has been a clear absence of support from current Aussie players, furthering speculation they are behind the coach’s exit.
Addressing to media on Tuesday, Khawaja confirmed he’d spoken to Langer before refusing to elaborate on what was said.
“That’s none of your business,” he laughed.
Langer’s recent record cannot be pointed to as why Cricket Australia only offered Langer a measly six-month contract extension through until the end of the year, Khawaja admitting senior players were involved in conversations with CA.
However, Khawaja – who only played two Tests this summer including successive centuries in Sydney – said he “wasn’t involved” in that process due to his recent addition to the team, despite travelling with the side as the reserve batter for the five Ashes Tests.
“I can’t really answer for the other guys, but for myself I wasn’t involved in the process, I think CA handled that,” Khawaja said.
“I think the players, certain senior members, will always have input in this decision, which I think is 100% fair, so they should.
“But I don’t think they’re behind making the decision at the end of the day, it rests with Nick (Hockley) and the other high-performance people around Cricket Australia.”
The 35-year-old suggested only white-ball captain Aaron Finch or Test captain Pat Cummins could put an end to the conversation.
“At some stage one of the captains, probably ‘Finchy’ or ‘Patty’, will probably have to stand up and answer some questions just to get rid of all the speculation that's going around,” Khawaja said.
“To just put an end to it all.”
Mitchell Johnson and Matthew Hayden have both been critical of Cummins’ role in the saga, who failed to endorse Langer for a contract extension in numerous interviews last week.
Khawaja was a regular member of the Test squad before being dropped by Langer during the 2019 Ashes in England, spending multiple years out of the Australian setup.
It gave him a unique look on how Langer had supposedly changed, after being forced to confront his intense coaching style during last year.
“Obviously a bit happened a year ago, I think they had some pretty big conversations among the playing group at that time,” Khawaja stated.
“But JL (Langer) is one guy (that) if you give him feedback he normally pushes back at the start, but he always takes it in at some stage and I think he did.
“I think he was always trying to improve as a coach, as a person and trying to do his best.
“I could see definite improvements in places where he was probably a bit weaker in his coaching… I could definitely see that effort being put in.
“He always had the best interests of everyone at heart, so that didn’t change.”
While Khawaja and Langer appeared to have a tense relationship in Amazon’s documentary of the side, the middle-order batter also said the two are on good terms.
“I feel for the man himself because I’ve gotten along with Justin for a long time, I love him as a bloke, he’s a legend,” he said.
“On a personal level, whether I get dropped or whether he’s not the Australian coach, we both have that relationship.
“It’d be like anyone else in that similar role and similar relationship.”
Australia confirmed Khawaja as part of their 18-man Test squad to tour Pakistan on Tuesday morning, which will be his first chance to play for his country on the land he was born.