However, as was the case against Pakistan, Smith, Glenn Maxwell and even Shaun Marsh were preferred ahead of him, leaving Khawaja to come in at No.6. He made 18 off 16 deliveries.

The Australians have preached flexibility, and Khawaja insists he is happy to do what is required when the game dictates change.

"I think all of us have to adapt to different situations. We are all fine. Whatever we need to do for the team, we will do it. We will keep doing it as best we can and, hopefully, keep getting wins," he said.

"I have felt good throughout the whole of this tournament. I wasn't panicking."

Khawaja said he would have liked to have had more runs. Through six matches heading into Tuesday's clash against England, he has 187 runs at 31.16, at a run-a-ball strike rate. That strike rate would have been fine even four years ago but the best one-day international batsmen in the world now go at a better clip than that.

The dapper left-hander is not a six hitter- he had 10 boundaries and no sixes against Bangladesh. He has only one six for the tournament, compared to Finch's 16, six from Warner and five from Maxwell.

His running between wickets, while improved, can still be questionable. He was criticised for what Australian great Shane Warne said was a "ridiculous" decision to leave Maxwell stranded at Trent Bridge.

Warne was among those to not have Khawaja in his own World Cup squad and has since taken aim at what he claims is Australia's "very conservative" batting. Former England captain Michael Vaughan says rival teams would be happy to see Khawaja come out at No.3, because he is not likely to immediately take the game on.

Through this noise, Khawaja says he has the gears - and mental strength - to play any role, something he will need to continue to do to edge out Marsh.

"As I said, the game dictates how I want to play and how everyone else players. For me, whether I am coming in in the 15th over, 30th over, 45th over, whether we are chasing, whether we are setting, the way I am going to play, the way I play, is dictated by the game," Khawaja said.

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"That is the difference between batting in the middle order and when you are opening. Because when you are opening, you are there in the first 10 [overs]. The game plan is pretty simple - you try and get as many runs as you can in the power play and you go from there. There is that little bit of difference."

England are likely to target Khawaja with the bouncer, for the West Indies struck him repeatedly through the warm-up match and at Trent Bridge in the tournament proper when Australia's top-order crumbled. His dismissal in the latter match - caught behind for 13 backing away to leg having been roughed up - was a concern, and prompted Ricky Ponting to declare he wanted to know what Khawaja had been thinking.

"That is the first I heard that," he said of Ponting's comments.

"I saw a gap in the covers ... so I tried to back away and it hit it but it probably wasn't the right shot at the time, game situation, two down in the first 10 overs. But better to do that early on in the tournament than later."