For believers in fate, the narrative arc of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja’s story is about to reach its peak. Out of Australia’s men’s Test team for more than two years, the 35-year-old Pakistan-born batter forced his way back into the starting XI with twin centuries in this year’s Sydney Ashes Test. It was a match he was only playing in because Travis Head, ahead of him for the No 5 batting spot, had tested positive for Covid.
Now, Khawaja is on his way back to the country of his birth as part of the first Australia tour to Pakistan in 24 years. “I’m not that much of a narcissist that I believe that there’s an agenda with fate,” says Khawaja, shortly before Australia’s departure. “There’s nothing saying that all this happened just so that I could go back to Pakistan. But I am a God-believing man and I do believe that fate comes from God.
