“He was cr*p at it,” Usman Khawaja recalls playing Call of Duty to break the ice with a “RESERVED” James Anderson

Khawaja recalled how shy and reserved Anderson was when he met the English paceman in 2014.

“He was cr*p at it,” Usman Khawaja recalls playing Call of Duty to break the ice with a “RESERVED” James Anderson

Usman Khawaja, James Anderson (Images via ESPNCricinfo)

Despite the intense rivalry between England and Australia over the Ashes, Aussie opener Usman Khawaja shares a deep camaraderie with England’s legendary pacer James Anderson on and off the field. The reason is their playing for Lancashire Cricket Club in County Championships back in 2014.

Khawaja recalled how shy and reserved Anderson was when he met the English paceman. But as they were addicted to the video game Call of Duty, that’s how they broke the ice and became good friends. Ahead of the fourth Ashes series, Khawaja told reporters about the time when Anderson entered his room one day and started playing Call of Duty.

YouTube video

“He’s a very quiet, reserved guy. I wasn’t really quite sure how to take him. I was addicted to Call of Duty on PlayStation at the time. So was he. And that’s how we broke the ice. He came in my room and started playing Call of Duty. He was cr*p at it,” Khawaja told reporters.

Related: Ajit Agarkar goes EXTRA MILE to fulfill his duty, will meet Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli to decide Team India’s FUTURE

Usman Khawaja leading the charts with the most runs in Ashes

Usman Khawaja leading the charts with the most runs in Ashes
Usman Khawaja (Image via ESPNCricinfo)

Khawaja has been consistently scoring runs for Australia and in the Ashes series, it was no different. In the first Test itself, he hammered a ton (141) and followed it with a half-century (65).

In the next Test, he scored 17 and 77 in the two innings, while in the Headingley Test, he added 13 and 43 runs. However, he fell to Stuart Broad in the fourth Test in Manchester which is currently underway.

On the other hand, veteran paceman James Anderson was rested in the third Test and was included in the fourth Test. England chose to bowl first after winning the toss and Australia have reached 57/1 (at the time of writing this article). David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne are at the crease.

In case you missed!