Lehmann to have 'private chat' with Khawaja on 'scapegoat' rant

Australia head coach Darren Lehmann has said that he will have a private conversation with Usman Khawaja after the batsman publicly criticised the national selectors for dropping him during the recent Sri Lankan tour.

Earlier, Khawaja had said that he and Joe Burns had been made "scapegoats" before describing the selectors "fickle" for dropping the duo after two Tests in Sri Lanka.

Poking fun over Khawaja's comment, Lehmann said that his side do feature the GOAT, referring to Nathan Lyon's nickname as the 'Greatest Of All Time', ESPNcrinfo reported.

"And now we have the Scapegoat. I love these nicknames ... He is not on the back foot. [But] I will chat to him privately. We would rather have these things played out between selectors and players," Lehmann added while pointing out that such matters should stay behind closed doors.

Khawaja and Burns were dropped for the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo despite the duo's impressive display in the longest-format of the game in the previous few series.

Burns was declared 'Man of the Match' in Australia's last Test against New Zealand in Christchurch in February while Khawaja had made four consecutive first-innings hundreds during the summer. Shaun Marsh and Moises Henriques were brought in place of Khawaja and Burns.

Defending the national selector's stand to drop Khawaja and Burns, Lehmann said the duo was not playing well enough to get selected in the squad.

"Being on the selection panel for the Test match, it was warranted. At the end of the day, there were different conditions and those two guys weren't playing well enough - they averaged eight or seven in two Test matches," he said.

Khawaja and Burns are currently in action for Queensland against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield match that started at the Gabba on Tuesday.