Usman Khawaja gets behind the wheels of world's largest passenger aircraft
Other than a Test specialist, Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja is also a qualified pilot and to prove it, he put his flying skills to the test as he flew the largest passenger aircraft in the world. The southpaw seemed quite comfortable and handled himself quite expertly in the cockpit.
"I travelled a lot as a kid. My dad worked in Saudi Arabia for about 5-6 years, so I use to travel back and forth to see them and then come back here to play cricket. I just grew a fascination with planes. As I was coming towards the end, year 11-12, I thought 'what about flying'. I found UNSW (University of New South Wales - School of Aviation), which offered both a degree to make my mother happy and get my licence to get my wings," Usman Khawaja told cricket.com.au.
"I think flying helped me a lot in terms of cricket. Probably the biggest way was discipline and keeping up with the learning, making sure you are on top of any changes that has happened. There are a lot of things that go hand in hand between flying and especially playing Test cricket. The discipline part of flying and discipline of being a sportsman, especially being a cricketer and being a batsman, I think there are a lot of similarities," said the Australian cricketer.
Khawaja has been included in Australia's ODI and T20I squad for the tour of India which begins February 24.
Australia T20I squad: Aaron Finch(c), Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, D Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Peter Handscomb, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Ashton Turner, Adam Zampa
Australia ODI squad: Aaron Finch(c), Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, D Arcy Short, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Pat Cummins, Kane Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa.
