‘Happens all the time’: Uzzie hits back at ‘racial stereotypes’ in emotional 50-minute presser

There was a lot more to Usman Khawaja’s 15-year Test career than just cricket.

As the first Muslim man to represent the Australian cricket team, Khawaja’s influence on the sport extended far beyond the field. During his remarkable Test renaissance, which began with twin hundreds during the 2022 New Year’s Ashes Test under Sydney, he was outspoken about his beliefs, becoming a source of inspiration for Australia’s South Asian and Muslim population, a demographic that has been criminally under-represented at the professional level in this country.

So when Khawaja announced his retirement from international cricket on Friday morning, speaking to media in an emotional 50-minute press conference at the SCG, his sporting feats took a back seat. Instead, the 39-year-old took the opportunity to discuss his experiences as a Pakistan-born player in the Australian cricket team.

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Khawaja, who migrated to Australia with his family aged five, fell in love with cricket at a young age, but at the time, nobody in the national cricket team looked like him.

“I’m a proud Muslim, coloured boy from Pakistan who was told that he would never play for the Australian cricket team,” he said, with his young family watching on from the back of the room.

“Look at me now.”

While there has “100 per cent” been improvement in areas such as inclusivity and diversity within the sport, Khawaja admitted that instances of racial stereotyping remained.

And he only had to cast his mind back six weeks to find an example.

During the Ashes series opener in Perth Stadium, Khawaja suffered back spasms while fielding on day one, an injury that forced an eleventh-hour reshuffle to Australia’s batting line-up and ruled him out of the second Test against England in Brisbane.

Following the setback, the Queenslander came under heavy scrutiny for his match preparation, specifically his decision to compete in a golf tournament the day before the Test match. Although Cricket Australia denied it contributed to the injury, he copped relentless media attention for the golf escapade.

Khawaja considered it racial stereotyping.

“The start of the series was a pretty tough time,” he recalled.

“The way the media and the past players came out and attacked me, I could have copped it for two days, but I copped it for about five days straight. And it wasn’t even about my performances. It was about something very personal, it was about my preparation.

“Things like, ‘He’s not committed to the team, he was only worried about himself, he played this golf comp the day before, he’s selfish, he doesn’t train hard enough, he didn’t train the day before the game, he’s lazy.’

“These are the same stereotypes, racial stereotypes I’ve grown up with my whole life.

“I just thought that the media and the old players and everyone else had moved past them, but we obviously haven’t fully moved past them.

“There’s still a little bit out there which I still have to fight every single day, which is the frustrating thing for me.”

Khawaja didn’t shy away from calling out the apparent hypocrisy. Multiple of his teammates have been guilty of playing golf on the day before a Test match, including fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who could receive Player of the Series honours this week.

But when Khawaja succumbed to an injury – which he called an “uncontrollable” – his character was blamed, not his body. He didn’t think that was fair.

“I’ve never seen anyone being treated like that in the Australian cricket team before,” Khawaja continued.

“I can give you a countless number of guys who’ve played golf the day before and been injured and you guys haven’t said a thing, no one else said a thing.

“Guys who’ve had 15 schooners the night before and then got an injury, no one said a word. It’s alright, they’re just being Aussie larrikins, right? They’re just being lads.

“But 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, you feel a little bit of remorse. Poor Josh Hazlewood or poor Nathan Lyon, he’s got an injury. We don’t attack what happened to him.

“That was the thing that was probably most sad about, and that’s what I’ve been dealing with for a long time.”

He added, pointing his finger at the journalists in the room: “Next year I’m going to be playing lots of golf, and there’s nothing you guys can say about it!”

Khawaja has been dealing with racial stereotyping throughout his career. During the 2017 New Year’s Test in Sydney, a member of the SCG security staff pointed him towards the Pakistan dressing rooms when he attempted to enter the Australian sheds.

It wasn’t a one-off incident. Ten years after making his international debut in 2011, Khawaja was still regularly dealing with similar incidents.

“I’ve always felt a little bit different, even now,” he said.

“Different by the way I’ve been treated, different for how things have happened.

“I just want the journey for the next Usman Khawaja to be different. I want you to treat him or her all the same. Not have racial stereotypes of who they might be.

“Treat them with the same cloak that you would treat any of the other cricketers that I play with.”

Khawaja also took the opportunity to call out popular journalist Bharat Sundaresan, who was in attendance at Friday’s press conference. Sundaresan, born and raised in India, is one of the few people of colour in the cricket media pack, and he hasn’t been immune to incidents of racial profiling while covering the sport.

“How many times have I helped you in the last two years when you’ve been absolutely nailed by security? At least four times, I reckon, I’ve helped you,” Khawaja said to Sundaresan.

“Even in Perth this year, the security was on you. I was like, ‘Please leave him alone.’”

Directing his attention to the rest of the room, he added: “This stuff happens all the time. You just don’t see it.”

Courtesy of players such as Tanveer Sangha and Alana King, state cricket in Australia is starting to reflect what the sport looks like at grassroots level, with Cricket Australia leading the charge.

But according to Khawaja, there’s still a bit to go.

“If you go outside, it’s such a multicultural community,” he said.

“You look at the amount of participation we have in cricket, subcontinent players particularly, but we don’t see that always in the Australian cricket team.

“And I get it, the Australian cricket team’s hard to make. There are 11 spots. It’s not easy, and we don’t want to just give people spots.

“But there’s still an undertone here and there. There are still challenges to be faced.

“It’ll probably never be 100 per cent fine, but we’ve got to try to get as close to equality as we can.

“It just takes time.”

He added: “I hope I’ve inspired many children along the way, particularly those who feel that they are different, those who feel that they don’t belong, or those others that tell them they will never make it. I felt all these things growing up, trying to be an Australian cricketer.

“But seeing is believing, and I’m here to tell you that you can do whatever you want. You’ve just got to keep trying. Never let anyone convince you that you can’t.“

Khawaja has also actively engaged with Australian politics during the latter stages of his playing career, something many athletes tend to avoid.

In December 2023, he was banned from wearing shoes that featured slogans supporting Palestinians in Gaza. He had written on the side of the footwear “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal”.

The following week, Khawaja was charged by the ICC for wearing a black armband during a Test match, a gesture of solidarity with the people of Gaza. Soon after, he accused the ICC of double standards after they rejected an application for him to place a peace dove on his bat.

Khawaja has accused former Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton of “fuelling Islamophobia”, while earlier this year he met with Anthony Albanese to discuss the situation in Palestine, encouraging the Australian Prime Minister to cut trade ties with Israel.

The outspoken Khawaja has copped a flurry of abuse for his political beliefs, with some members of the Australian community relentlessly attacking the cricketer, but that won’t stop him from talking about issues outside of cricket such anti-immigration and Islamophobia.

“I put myself out there, I know people don’t love that,” Khawaja said.

“But I feel like I have to, because while these guys are trying to divide, create hate and trying to create animosity in the Australian community, I’m doing the exact opposite. I’m trying to bring everyone together. I’m trying to bring inclusivity into Australia.

“I know what people say about me, ‘Stay in your spot, don’t speak about topics that you don’t know, you’re just a cricketer.’

“But how do you think it makes me feel when people talk about immigration or they start attacking Muslims for everything that’s going on?

“When you start attacking my faith and my belief system, it is personal, so I’m going to speak about that because not many athletes do, and I understand why they don’t.”

Asked how he wanted to be remembered beyond his playing days, Khawaja responded: “Just as a good person, as a good human, as a good father, as a good son. Maybe easy on the eye to watch when I’m batting.

“I just want to be remembered as a humble cricketer who went out there and entertained and people enjoyed watching.”

The fifth and final Ashes Test between Australia and England, Khawaja’s last appearance in international cricket, gets underway at the SCG on Sunday at 10.30am AEDT.