Years to these champion batters!

At the Sydney Cricket Ground last week Australiarsquos middleorder batsman Usman Khawaja provided true indication of what it means to be Two GoodHe hit up two centuries in his comeback Test his first in more than two years not appearing on an Australia Test team sheet for 14 Tests To come back the way he did after a considerable gap is unprecedented in terms of sheer volume of runs Itrsquos also one of the many reasons why he is so specialKhawajarsquos return to Test cricket reminded me of how Mohinder Amarnath came back after he was ignored for 23 Tests across November 1979 and September 1982 He was recalled for the 198283 tour of Pakistan and scored a hundred in the opening Test at LahoreAmarnath had made Test comebacks before in 1976 and 1979 but this was sterling against an Imran Khanled attack which he took 584 runs off in six Tests inclusive of three hundredsSkipper Imran said the Lahore hundred was a ldquogreat rewardrdquo to Amarnath who held the innings together while R Mohan wrote in The Sportstar ldquoMohinder had a testing time when the Pakistanis fired bouncers at him Even after three yearsrsquo absence from Tests he could still take the stuff on his body or hook when he had time enough to prove how wrong everyone had been in assessing the one chink in his armour to be so overwhelming as to make him unfit for Test cricketrdquoAmarnath who should hold the copyright for the word lsquocomebackrsquo in a cricketing sense followed Khawajarsquos fortunes at Sydney He told me on Tuesday how delighted he was for the classy lefthander ldquoWhat he did is not easy what with people doubting your abilities all the time He proved a lot of people wrong He must have felt reborn in a way Irsquom sure he will go from strength to strength nowldquoI felt something similar after the comeback hundred in Lahore after being under the scanner all the time and everything under the sun been spoken about Itrsquos the best slap in the face for the doubtersrdquoIf Amarnathrsquos fans thought the 198283 tour of Pakistan was the last of his comebacks they were mistaken After his 001000 sequence in three Tests against the West Indies at home in 198384 the selectors were forced to drop him Picked again for the 198485 tour of Pakistan Amarnath scored a second innings hundred in the opening Test at LahoreAmong Indian batsmen other comebackwithaton instances include ML Jaisimha in Brisbane flown in as replacement for BS Chandrasekhar on the 196768 tour of Australia Dilip Sardesai in Jamaica dropped for the home series against Australia after the opening Test and picked for the 197071 tour of the West Indies Navjot Singh Sidhu in Bangalore picked for the 198889 series against New Zealand after two Tests against the West Indies in 198384 and Ravi Shastri at Lordrsquos recalled for the 1990 tour of England after being dropped for the New Zealand tourShastri felt he was jaded on the tour of Pakistan in 1989 and not going to New Zealand provided him a twoandahalfmonth break ldquoWhen I came back I found the motivation back again and I found that I was a lot more hungrierrdquo he told Sportsworld magazine The Lordrsquos hundred in the first Test was followed up with another in the third and final Test at the OvalBack to Khawaja The Pakistaniborn player was not coy to talk about the possibility of him scoring a hundred in the buildup to the Sydney Test when it was announced that he would replace Covidhit Travis Head ldquoItrsquos one of those things where even if I do play itrsquoll only be for one game I understand that situation hopefully I can go out there and score a hundred and do well for the team in the absence of Heady Headrdquo he told cricketcomau Itrsquos one thing to talk about getting a hundred quite another to go out and get it and score another in the second inningsAs things stand the twin hundreds in Sydney cannot guarantee him a place in the playing XI for the final Ashes Test at Hobart Head is fit to come in and if any batsman has to be dropped it will have to be Marcus Harris whose approach the selectors are happy with Dropping Harris would mean Khawaja will have to open the innings He has done so only seven times in 79 Test innings but his record at the top of the order is impressive 484 runs at 9680 with two centuries That said opening will be another kettle of fish He last walked out to open the batting for Australia in a Test three Januarys agoKhawaja in any case will embrace any challenge For he has proved to be more than just Two Goodmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper