On the opening day of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2025, Australian opening batter Usman Khawaja etched his name in the record books by claiming an unwanted record. He failed to trouble the scores and faced 20 balls before departing for a duck. In the process, he became the joint-third highest in the list of most balls faced by any Australian opener in a Test innings. The 38-year-old is at par with Sammy Jones, who also was dismissed on a 20-ball duck way back in 1888 against England. 

The record for facing the most number of deliveries without scoring belongs to Australia's swashbuckling three-format opener, David Warner. He faced a galloping 22 balls in a Test series against England in 2022 and agonizingly perished without scoring a single run. Second on the unfortunate list is the now-retired Aussie batter Shaun Marsh, who faced 21 deliveries against India in the 2016-2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series before getting out. 

See also: SA vs AUS WTC Final 2025 Day 1 Recap – Key performances and major highlights

Top four Australian openers who've faced the most deliveries before registering a duck 

Khawaja looked tentative right from the onset of the innings. He never looked comfortable against the moving ball and didn't really move his feet confidently enough to tackle the sharp seam movement. Rabada and Jansen troubled him early doors with the new ball and challenged both edges of the bat. He often found himself caught in the crease on many occasions.

At last, after facing a jaw-dropping 20 balls, Khawaja's innings was put to an end by Rabada, who had him caught at first slip. Coming in from around the wicket, Rabada pitched it around the fourth stump line on a good length, forcing Khawaja to offer a shot. He was tentative with his footwork and got squared up while playing the delivery, resulting in a thick outside edge. Bedingham, in the end, completed the catch and held it really well as it veered in the air on the way to him.

Khawaja's deep decline in form has left many experts, including former Australian cricketers, deeply worried. The 38-year-old endured a difficult time in the BGT (2024-25) series against India, where he averaged just a shade above 20 across 10 innings with only one half-century. Although he did manage to silence his critics in his very next Test assignment to Sri Lanka, where he finished as the highest run scorer averaging an astonishing 147.5 in three innings, his troubles were far from over as he found himself wanting against South Africa in the do-or-die WTC summit clash.