Life after retirement is a major talking point for any sportsperson but for Australia’s batting star Usman Khawaja, there already seems to be a great option for a career once he hangs up his cricketing gear. In a video tweeted by Cricket Australia’s Twitter handle, Usman Khawaja, who is a qualified pilot, put his flying skills to test by taking control of the largest passenger aircraft in the world. The Australian left-hander handled himself quite expertly in the cockpit, his only blemish being a slightly rough landing, reports the ndtv.com.

Speaking about his love for flying Khawaja said: ‘I travelled a lot as a kid. My dad worked in Saudi Arabia for about 5-6 years, so I use to travel back and forth to see them and then come back here to play cricket. I just grew a fascination with planes. As I was coming towards the end, year 11-12, I thought ‘what about flying’. I found UNSW (University of New South Wales - School of Aviation), which offered both a degree to make my mother happy and get my licence to get my wings.’

‘I think flying helped me a lot in terms of cricket. Probably the biggest way was discipline and keeping up with the learning, making sure you are on top of any changes that has happened. There are a lot of things that go hand in hand between flying and especially playing Test cricket. The discipline part of flying and discipline of being a sportsman, especially being a cricketer and being a batsman, I think there are a lot of similarities,’ said the Australian cricketer.

Watch as qualified pilot Usman Khawaja puts his flying skills to the test, taking control of the largest passenger aircraft in the world!@Uz_Khawaja | @Qantas pic.twitter.com/gg8MerqebM

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 20, 2019

Usman Khawaja was part of the Australian squad that lost the four-Test series at home to India. The left-hander played all four matches but failed to make a real impact.

He scored 198 in eight innings at an average of 28.29. Khawaja fared a little better in the three-match ODI series, scoring 114 runs at an average of 38 and a strike rate of 73.55.

Khawaja has been included in Australia’s ODI and T20I squads for the limited-over series in India that begins on February 24.