Australian test Cricket team at full-strength for first Pakistan Test in post-Justin Langer era

Usman Khawaja is prepared to miss the arrival of his second child to fulfill a Lifelong ambition of wearing the baggy green in his country of birth, as Cricket Australia brace for player withdrawals from the historic series in Pakistan.

All of Australia’s biggest stars feature in a near-full-strength 18-player Squad for the Three Tests, as Pat Cummins’ men aim to conquer the cricketing world in the post-Justin Langer era.

But CA is expecting some players to pull out of Australia’s first visit to Pakistan in almost 24 years due to concerns over safety.

Players and agents have been briefed by CA’s head of high performance Ben Oliver in recent days over the Presidential level security measures Pakistan authorities are implementing in a bid to raise international confidence over playing Cricket in the country.

Though there remains anxiety among players over touring, one man who will take part is Khawaja, who is prepared to make an enormous personal sacrifice to play in Pakistan.

The Veteran, who has been assured of opening in the first Test, and his wife Rachel are expecting the birth of their second child in mid to late April. The three Tests are due to finish March 25 but they will almost certainly miss the birth if the baby is born earlier than expected.

“She’s very understanding. We even had a conversation about what happens if we had a baby mid-test match. She knows I love playing Cricket, it’s very important to me, she’s very supportive of that, and she knows I try to support her any way I can, ”Khawaja said.

“But fingers crossed she doesn’t have a baby while we’re away. I was always going to go. It’s going to take me a lot to come back, it’s Test Cricket for Australia. I’m sort of not thinking about it because I don’t want it to happen, but ask me if it does happen. ”