On the back of a century in the final Ashes Test and a game-winning 85 runs for the Thunder on Thursday night, Usman Khawaja has been given some big praise from Shane Watson.
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Khawaja became the first player to hit half centuries in five consecutive BBL innings and his Thunder captain is clearly pretty pleased to have him.
No stranger to criticism himself, Watson believes Khawaja is playing with renewed freedom in the BBL after ending an otherwise mixed Ashes showing on the right note.
"I"m just thrilled for Uz, to see him play with that much freedom," Watson said.
"It just shows he's one of the best batsmen in the world - not just in Australia.
"To dismantle a high-quality bowling attack like he did (against the Scorchers) is incredible.
"From my perspective, it just comes down to the freedom he has when he plays for the Thunder and he's not getting extra scrutiny at that next level around whether he's going to play, whether he's in the team, whether he's not in the team."
Despite his good form in the T20 format, Khawaja was left out of Australia's ODI squad to take on England.
That's welcome news for the Thunder though who play the Sixers in a derby on Saturday night.
