Melbourne: Australian’s middle-order batsman Usman Khawaja on Sunday after getting snubbed by Cricket Australia for central contracts said he was shocked to learn about the financial crisis the Board is facing and blamed it on “mismanagement".
Former captains Michael Clarke and Allan Border had criticised Cricket Australia for dropping Khwaja, who felt he is still one of the six best batsmen in the world.
"I was very shocked. Because I knew our projections for revenue were still very high and I think they still are, depending on what happens with the Indian series," Khawaja was quoted as saying by a sports TV channel.
"It's a bit confusing. I don't have all the financial information in front of me, but it seems like it's more of a cashflow problem at the moment. There's obviously a little bit of mismanagement there somewhere, with the portfolio and putting a lot of money into the share market.
"To me that's Business 101. To make sure you have enough cash reserves if crap hits the fan. So I'm a little bit disappointed on that front ... but what's been done is done now, so it's just our responsibility as CA and ACA to work through this."
Khawaja said he was still good with bat in his hand and that "age is just a number".
"My playing against spin has been right up there as some of the best in the county. Bar maybe Steve Smith, who is an absolute genius. But the most important thing is to score runs.
