Australia batter Usman Khawaja announced he will retire from international cricket after the fifth Ashes Test, which starts from Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). But before drawing curtains on a glorious career, Khawaja didn't go quietly.
The Pakistan-born cricketer, who was the first Muslim to play for Australia, used the moment to expose the “racial" stereotyping which he felt almost throughout his stint.
Earlier at the start of Ashes 2025-26, Khawaja faced immense criticism after not being able to open in the first Ashes Test in Perth due to back spasms and subsequently missing the Brisbane Test due to same.
Khawaja was then initially left out in Adelaide until Steve Smith’s vertigo made way for his return and an 82 in the first innings assured his position in the XI for fourth Test in Melbourne.
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Khawaja said he felt he was treated “a little bit different, even to now,” because of his Pakistan and Muslim background.
"Different in the way I’ve been treated, different in how things have happened,” he said at a media conference in Sydney. “I had back spasms, it was something I couldn’t control. The way the media and the past players came out and attacked me . . . I copped it for about five days straight. Everyone was piling in.
“Once the racial stereotypes came in, of me being lazy, it was things I’ve dealt with my whole life. Pakistani, West Indian, colored players...we’re selfish, we only care about ourselves, we don’t care about the team, we don’t train hard enough."
Khawaja was criticised in the days leading up to the Perth match for golfing twice and not taking part in an optional training session. Some commentators suggested the golf might have been responsible for his back issues.
“I can give you countless number of guys who have played golf the day before a match and have been injured, but you guys haven’t said a thing," Khawaja said.
“I can give you even more examples of guys who have had 15 schooners (large glasses of beer) the night before a game and have then been injured, but no one said a word because they were just being ‘Aussie larrikins,’ they were just being lads. when I get injured, everyone went at my credibility and who I am as a person."
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Khawaja has scored 6,206 runs at an average of 43.49 in his 87 tests with 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries. He, however, was left extremely disappointed when his credibility was questioned. Expressing further on the subject, Khawaja said: “When I get injured, everyone went at my credibility and who I am as a person. Normally when someone gets injured, you feel sorry for them as a person. ‘Poor Josh Hazlewood’ or ‘poor Nathan Lyon’. We feel sorry for them and we don’t attack what happened to them."
“I know I’m here talking about topics and people will say, ‘Uzzie’s here, he’s playing the race card again’. I know people are trying to nail me. But don’t gaslight me. Where we are at today, Islamophobia is still very rife. I speak about it. I didn’t want to talk about this, but I just want the journey for the next Usman Khawaja to be different," he added.
Khawaja said he knew the end of his career was imminent. “I guess moving into this series, I had an inkling this would be the last series," he said. "I’m glad I can go out on my own terms.”
The final Ashes Test will be Khawaja's 88th — played at the ground where he began his first-class career. Khawaja scored his first Ashes century at the SCG with 171 against England in 2018. It was also at that the SCG where he revived his career at age 35, scoring two centuries against England. That prompted one of the great late-career revivals, as Khawaja hit seven centuries in his next two years back in the side.
Meanwhile, Australia, with a 3-1 lead going into the fifth test, have retained the Ashes.
- with AP inputs
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