Khawaja blames Oz batting disaster on pitches suiting fast bowlers

Australia's Usman Khawaja has said that he believes the nation's batting malaise might have been triggered by the trend towards pitches skewed to suit fast bowling in domestic cricket.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the batsman said that the wickets early on in the last few years have been quite sporting for the fast bowlers and there were a lot of results too, adding that he was not sure if it was a mental thing, but runs were still scored.

The 26-year-old batsman also revealed he had shed several kilograms in an effort to take his game to the next level and revive his Test career, which had previously been dogged by a perception he lacked urgency between the wickets and in his preparation, the report said.

Khawaja added that he had played on a couple of Test wickets that were green, in Australia and the wickets had lost a bit of their characteristics over the last five years.