'Horrible, shortsighted': Usman Khawaja flames selectors over 'brutal' Phil Hughes call in new documentary
Phillip Hughes was "screwed over" by "horrible" and "shortsighted" selectors, Usman Khawaja declared in a new documentary about the late star's life.
Hughes was dropped four times in the five-and-a-half years between his debut and his death. Arguably the most brutal of those was the first instance in 2009, only two Tests into an Ashes series and five Tests into his career.
Hughes had made runs for fun on his debut tour in South Africa that March. In Durban, he belted scores of 115 and 160 to become the youngest player to score a century in each innings of a Test.
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Fast forward to July, he made scores of 36, 4 and 17 in the first two Tests in Cardiff and Lord's and was dropped for Shane Watson.
Speaking on cricket.com.au's new documentary The Boy From Macksville, Hughes' then-opening partner Simon Katich said it was a "brutal call".
Phillip Hughes in the 2009 Ashes series. Getty
"I remember saying to him at the time 'I feel for you', having been through all that in the past," Katich said.
"There's a couple of ways you can go about it, but he copped it on the chin and copped it, even though I don't think it was the right decision at the time."
Still, two years away from his own Test debut, which came batting at first drop behind Hughes and Shane Watson, Khawaja was shocked at the decision.
"Selectors at that time were horrible, let's be clear on that," he said in the documentary.
"I just could not believe they dropped him at that time. The most shortsighted thinking.
"(They said) 'his technique is not up to standard'. What do you mean his technique is not? He has scored the most runs out of anyone in the world right now in the last year.
"So, he got screwed over there and it definitely hurt his psyche."
Hughes would make only one more Test century - 126 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2011 - before he died in 2014.
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