Usman Khwaja and a deeply disturbing press conference

Australia opener batter Usman Khawaja

Much has already been written about the Usman Khwaja press conference. The truth is it has left us all disturbed. While it is not fair to take sides on the issue, the press conference does raise a series of disturbing questions. Does it mean that Usman in all the 15 years that he has played for Australia always felt persecuted? Did he always feel a loner who did not belong? If that’s the case, was he ever a part of the team in any real sense?

Someone who has played 88 Test matches for Australia will always rank as one of the few lucky ones. For a decade and a half he had the privilege of wearing the baggy green. Yet at the end of it all Usman leaves with a whole lot of negativity. If what he is saying is true, one wonders how it must have been for him every single day. Was he being judged? Was he having to push himself that much more? Was he having to evaluate himself every night and answer unpleasant questions raised by his own conscience?

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More importantly why should anyone else want to be the next Usman Khwaja. If at the end of 15 years things are still like this, what’s his real legacy? What has changed and how? How are things better?

Usman did not allude to things getting better. Rather, all he said is that his credibility was doubted at every step. While others were shown empathy, he was the target when he was injured. What does this say about Australian cricket culture?

The question to also ask is in a multi racial, multi cultural society and Australia clearly prides itself as one such, why should someone aspire to be a “John Smith” (his words) rather than being an Usman Khwaja? If he leaves with the advice that one needs to always get closer to be a John Smith to feel at home in the Australian team, then the situation is deeply concerning is all I would like to say.

Did Usman ever feel a part of the change room in all these years? Did he ever feel a part of the Australian team? Or was he always a Pakistani Muslim immigrant who had to fight that much more? Is there any gratitude for the 88 matches that he has played? A sense of empathy towards his teammates? Did Pat Cummins and Mitch Starc and Dave Warner make him feel he was Usman Khwaja, an immigrant from Pakistan, or did they make him feel one of their own? If it’s the latter, does it not merit mention?

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At the end of the day sport is a pursuit of excellence and joy. It unites and binds us all together. If someone has played sport at the highest level with distinction for a decade and a half, the least one expects is that he found an inner joy each time he went out to bat. A sense of satisfaction at what he has achieved. If that’s not the case, why would one even do something which is as negative? Everyone has a choice and Usman too must have had it. He chose to be a cricketer and to his credit played 88 Tests. May be he could be a little more kind to himself and to every young person who wants to be the next Usman Khwaja.