Overview:
Khawaja was criticised in the days leading up to the Perth match for golfing twice and not taking part in an optional training session.
Usman Khawaja has decided to retire from international cricket after the fifth and final Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground. However, he is not going quietly.
The southpaw criticised the “racial” stereotyping he experienced during his career. He will play his 88th and final Test for Australia. The veteran has amassed 6206 runs at an average of 43.39 in 87 Tests so far. He has hit 16 hundreds and 28 fifties in his career.
Khawaja said he felt he was treated “a little bit different, even to now,” because of his Pakistani 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 a 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 told the assembled media.
“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. But when I got injured, everyone went after my credibility and who I am as a person.
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.”