Speculation about Khawaja's imminent retirement ramped up during the Ashes series against England when he sustained a back injury during the first Test in Perth and missed his home game in Brisbane as a result.
Khawaja's career appeared to be potentially over at that stage, having gone past 50 only three times in 32 innings across the 2024 and 2025 calendar years up to that point, but the shock withdrawal of fellow top order batter Steve Smith to a vertigo-related illness for the third Test in Adelaide offered him a reprieve that he took advantage of with scores of 82 & 40 in Australia's 82-run victory that sealed the series triumph in record time.
He followed that up with just 29 runs (29 & 0) on the tricky MCG Boxing Day pitch last week, but his efforts in Adelaide and the dropping of Josh Inglis were enough for him to earn another appearance at the SCG on Sunday.
Head coach Andrew McDonald confirmed on Tuesday that Khawaja would be selected for the Sydney Test, leading some to speculate that management were hinting at Khawaja that this was potentially his final opportunity to bow out on his own terms.
Khawaja had reportedly considered aiming for the January-February 2027 five-Test tour of India, where his renowned prowess at playing against spin would have been an asset to the side, but staying sharp with no Test cricket until a home series against Bangladesh in August 2026 would have proven to be immensely difficult approaching his 40th birthday.
He heads into his final match with 6,206 career runs at an average of 43.39, with the highest of his 16 Test centuries coming less than 12 months ago via a career-saving 232 against Sri Lanka in Galle.
It was in the final game of the 2010/11 Ashes where Khawaja made his debut as a 24-year-old, getting two starts (37 & 21) as a number three under Michael Clarke, two years after forcing his way into the New South Wales team with consecutive double centuries for their second XI.
His Test career went through several peaks and troughs, the most remarkable of which was his twin centuries of the 2021/22 Sydney Test against England, where he replaced Travis Head (Covid) at short notice after an absence of two-and-a-half years following a disastrous return of 122 runs at an average of 20 in the 2019 Ashes.
Khawaja also played 49 white ball internationals for Australia in the 2010s and won several domestic titles, including the 2015/16 Big Bash League with Sydney Thunder, the 2013/14 One-Day Cup and the 2020/21 Sheffield Shield, the latter for which he was the captain.
He even made six IPL appearances in 2016 for Rising Pune Supergiant alongside Indian legends MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin as well as current Test teammate Scott Boland and his chief selector George Bailey.
The former New South Welshman is the tenth-most prolific Test run scorer at the SCG with 875 runs from just 14 innings at an average of 87.50 courtesy of four centuries, three of which came against England.
Just ten more runs would see him go past former opening partner David Warner for SCG runs, whilst 88 would see him overtake both Doug Walters (900) and Matthew Hayden (962) into seventh.