Usman Khawaja on Thursday addressed the issues of racism from which he has suffered in his entire career. The Australian cricketer was addressing a press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground to announce his retirement from international cricket when he also highlighted the racial bias.
“I’ve always felt a little bit different, even to now, I’m a coloured cricketer. The Australian cricket team is, in my opinion … that’s our best team. It’s our pride and joy. But I’ve also felt very different in a lot of respects, different by the way I’ve been treated, different for how things have happened,” Khawaja said.
Khawaja was born in Pakistan and he moved with his family to Australia when he was a young boy.
At the beginning of the recently-concluded Ashes series, the cricketer was criticised for playing three days of golf in the lead-up to the Perth Test at start of the Ashes, where he suffered back spasms and could not open the batting.
“I had back spasms, and that’s something I couldn’t control. But 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’s about my preparation. And the way everyone came at me about my preparation, it was quite personal in terms of 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 with them the day before the game, he’s lazy. These are the same stereotypes, the racial stereotypes I’ve grown up with my whole life,” Khawaja said.
An emotional Khawaja said that he could name countless number of guys who have played golf and got injured but haven’t come under the kind of scrutiny which he had to endure.
The 39-year-old also spoke on the criticism that came his way when he missed the Sheffield Shield matches and was spotted watching the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne. Khawaja said that his teammate Nathan Lyon was also at the Grand Prix and missed the entire back end of the Shield season.
“I”ve been dealing with this stuff a long time. And for me, I know I’m up here talking about topics and people are like, okay, Uzzy’s here, he’s playing the race card again, but don’t gaslight me. 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 my wholesome other cricketers that I play with,” Khawaja added.
