Sydneydeclared his retirement from international cricket today in Sydney, taking aim at racial stereotyping that occurred during his career. In addition to confirming that the Sydney Test match against England would be his final one, he disclosed that he had been hurt and frustrated by being treated differently than other Australian players during his career.
Khawaja first discussed the racial stereotyping he experienced in his career during a 50-minute press conference at the SCG press room. Notably, he was the first Muslim to represent Australia in Test cricket and was born in Pakistan. "Even now, I've always felt a little different.I play cricket as a person of color. I think our best team is the Australian cricket team. It makes us happy and proud. However, Khawaja added, "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 discusses the controversy surrounding his career.Khawaja also discussed the criticism he received for playing golf prior to the Perth Test while experiencing back spasms for the first time in his career. At the time, his dedication to the team was questioned. The 39-year-old claimed that he felt singled out by the media and former players at the time and that no other player received the same level of criticism for suffering an injury while playing golf.
"I was unable to control my back spasms. I could have copped it for two days, but I copped it for roughly five days in a row because of the way the media and former players came out and attacked me. Furthermore, it had nothing to do with my performances.It had to do with something very personal—my preparation.
"Everyone's criticism of my preparation was very personal; they said 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, and he's lazy." The opening batter continued, "These are the same racial stereotypes that I've grown up with my entire life.
"I simply assumed that the media, the veteran players, and everyone else had moved past it, but it's clear that we haven't because I've never witnessed anyone in the Australian cricket team being treated that way. I can name a ton of guys who were hurt while playing golf the day before. Nothing has been said by any of you. "No one else said anything," he remarked.
Interestingly, Australian players have suffered golf injuries before, with the recent instance being of Josh Inglis who cut his hand on the golf course and got ruled out of T20 World Cup 2022. even missed an ODI at the 2023 World Cup due to a concussion sustained after falling off a golf cart's back.