Ricky Ponting believes Usman Khawaja was dropped due to inconsistency, return will be difficult

Melbourne, May 18: Two-time World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting believes senior Australia batsman Usman Khawaja was axed from the national team due to his inconsistency but he is not willing to write him off yet.

The 33-year-old Khawaja was recently left out of Australia's annual list of contracted players after he was dropped midway through last year's Ashes.

"I honestly think now he's going to find it difficult (to get back into the Australian team) and I feel for him," Ponting, who was recently involved with the Australian team as a batting consultant, told ABC Grandstand.

"I've always felt he's a very good player and we probably never saw the absolute best of him at international cricket. We saw glimpses of it, and dribs and drabs, but not the consistently good player I thought he could have been for Australia."

Ponting, however, hoped that Khawaja can score loads of runs in the domestic circuit and make an international comeback.

"One thing I know, you never write great players off. He's got every opportunity once domestic cricket does start this summer, and all he can do is represent Queensland, get a truckload of runs under his belt and wait for another opportunity to come along.

"If it does I'm sure he wouldn't let anyone down if he gets a chance to play again."

Khawaja has played 44 Tests and 40 ODIs, scoring 2,887 and 1,554 runs respectively. He has eight hundreds and 14 half-centuries in Tests and two hundreds in ODIs.

(With PTI inputs)