'Not the Tigers of 10 years ago'

Being of subcontinent descent often brings with it an expectation that a player will be adept at playing spin, and that is something that Australia's Pakistan-born top-order batsman Usman Khawaja will have to contend with when dealing with the barrage of spin the team will encounter when the first of two Tests against Bangladesh gets underway in Mirpur from August 27.

Making things slightly more challenging for the left-hander is the fact that he did not enjoy much success during his most recent subcontinent foray in Sri Lanka around a year ago, where he scored 55 runs in four innings. He was subsequently dropped from the Tests in India earlier this year, so rust is another factor he may have to deal with.

"It never is [easy to come back after a break], but I think I have played cricket for long enough now to know what it's like to bat in the middle," said Khawaja after a social awareness event at Oxfam in Bangladesh.  "It's about going out there and scoring runs, trying to see what the match situation is. I don't believe in rust."

USMAN KHAWAJA

Khawaja expressed satisfaction with the facilities, although understandably saying that the weather could be better. "The facilities have been great, the weather has been a bit on and off but we actually got a lot of cricket in. Quite lucky, we sort of found gaps in between the weather. It's been tough, it's very hot and humid here. But the preparation has been great. It would have been nice to play the tour game, but that didn't happen. Our spinners are bowling to our batsmen, facing fast bowlers, facing reverse swing, trying to tick all the boxes."

As for his opponents, he said: "I think they are a really good lineup in general. They are obviously very good players at home as most teams are. And they've got some very good spinners and some very good batsmen. They are not the Bangladesh team that we played against 10 years ago. They beat England, which is no easy feat because they are a very good team too. We respect them but at the same time we hope to go out and play the brand of cricket we want to play and hopefully do well."