Usman Khawaja ruled out of opening bat in Ashes after bizarre toilet break rule

Australian batsman Usman Khawaja was prevented from opening the batting in the first Test at Perth due to a cricket rule, after he was off the field for “toilet breaks and stretching.”

The controversy unfolded after Mitchell Starc’s devastating seven-wicket haul bowled England out for 172.

As Australian batting started, the confusion erupted when Marnus Labuschagne, regular no. 3, walked out to open with debutant Jake Weatherald rather than Khawaja.

The reason that was presented for this move was a little known regulation of cricket i.e., International Cricket Council (ICC)'s Men's Test Match Clause 11.2.2. that states, "An interval between innings shall be 10 minutes, commencing from the close of an innings until the call of Play for the start of the next innings."

It is stated that the 38-year-old cricketer had been off the field for longer than the time between the fall of the final English wicket and the start of Australia’s innings.

As reported by Fox, Australian captain Steve Smith was seen visibly frustrated, gesturing urgently to the dressing room in a failed attempt to get Khuwaja back on the field in time.

The miscalculation turned out to be costly when Weatherald was dismissed for a second-ball duck, exposing Smith to the new ball earlier than planned.

Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody labelled the situation as “poor management” and “beyond a joke,” lamenting that while “Starc led the attack, we needed Uzzie to lead the batting.”