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No dramas for Khawaja on Smith's fury

Scott BaileyAAP
Usman Khawaja, here hailing his 50, had no problems with Steve Smith's reaction to being run out.
Camera IconUsman Khawaja, here hailing his 50, had no problems with Steve Smith's reaction to being run out. Credit: AP

Usman Khawaja insists all is fine between himself and Steve Smith, brushing off the former captain's on-field blow up following his day-one run-out in Galle.

Smith was sent packing on the opening day of the series, after a ball struck him in the pad and both he and Khawaja initially went before turning around.

Smith dived for his crease and got up clearly angry when he rose to his feet, raising his arms aloft in confusion at Khawaja before storming off the field.

Cameras also spotted Smith sitting angrily in the dressing rooms around 15 minutes later, clearly seething over the mix-up.

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But Khawaja insisted there had been nothing of note said between the pair over the incident, with Smith also appearing in a far more jovial mood in the nets on Thursday.

"Yeah, he did look annoyed. There's nothing really to report," Khawaja said.

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"There wasn't really too much to it. We're both professional cricketers.

"Stuff on the field of play happens and you just move on and push on.

"You're always just looking to the future. If you're looking to the past it doesn't help anyone; there's not really much to report."

Regardless of the Smith situation, Khawaja keeps showing he has gone from being renowned as a home-track specialist to now being regarded as one of Australia's best on the sub-continent.

His 71 on Thursday marked his seventh score above 50 since his recall to the Australian Test team, with his run also including scores of 97, 160, 91 and 104no in Pakistan.

The 35-year-old described the Galle wicket as one of the toughest he has ever batted on, and he was seen laughing after several balls as they spun back sharply at him.

But the left-hander's willingness to sweep and reverse-sweep has continued to prove crucial, both in Sri Lanka and in Pakistan in March.

"I was just laughing because of what the balls were doing, everything that was going on for me was quite funny," Khawaja said.

"It's the kind of wicket you practice on back home and think, I am probably never going to get wickets like that.

I was just enjoying the challenge out there, there's not much you can do other than have your areas and try and score runs.

"There are going to be balls that do some random stuff, and you just have to laugh it off."

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