Usman Khawaja: Leaving a legacy for the minority kid with a dream

When Usman Khawaja walks away from the upcoming Sydney Test, he will have left an unique legacy in Australian cricket. There have been, and will be, more qualified batters in the baggy green – but it will be difficult for one to rise above the racial stereotypes and be another Khawaja in a world where Islamophobia is casting long shadows.

The 39-year-old poured his heart out in a hastily arranged press conference on Friday – which was supposed to be about his impending retirement but focused on the odds he had to battle against as Khawaja hoped his journey would inspire many Muslim, coloured boys to make it through the ranks. At a time when it’s almost a taboo among elite sportspersons to speak out on the Gaza atrocities, Khawaja had been virtually a lone voice in recent years.

As the social media was abuzz about him signing off, a comment from a cricket enthusiast stood out. ‘’Go well, Uzzie Khawaja. Ironic that back spasms had to end the career of a man with the strongest spine,’’ Vikramjit_S posted on his X handle, referring to the back injury which interfered with his final Ashes series appearance and sparked a controversy.

The harsh criticism he had to endure after being hampered by the back injury during the Perth Test – something attributed to him playing several rounds of golf days before the game – continues to rankle him and could have triggered this sudden move. The issue did come up, but Khawaja said he did not understand why he had been treated harsher than other players who had drunk “15 schooners” when preparing for a Test match.

“It (the criticism) was quite personal in terms of things like ‘he’s not committed to the team, he’s 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, the racial stereotypes, I’ve grown up with my whole life,” Khawaja added.

A late bloomer of sorts, the hallmark of Khawaja’s batting lay in the plenty of time he had to play his shots while the ability to handle spin with soft hands and use of wrists made him a sure bet on tours of the sub-continent. A testimony to it lay in the way he worked his way to his career-best, marathon 232 against Sri Lanka only in February 2025, which made him the second oldest Australian batter behind Sir Don Bradman to score a double century in Tests.

Khawaja was 38 years 42 days when he hit the only double century of his career, while Sir Don had two – a 234 at 38 years and 108 days and 201 at 39 years & 149 days. His spoils over a 15-year career, a chequered one as he was often drafted in as contingency, still reads an impressive one with 6206 runs from 87 Tests at an average of 43.39, 16 centuries and 28 fifties, and 1554 runs from 40 ODIs (including two tons).

“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 around who they might be,” said an emotional Khawaja. In the weeks after the war in Gaza broke out in 2023, Khawaja applied a sticker of a white dove on the back of his bat and penned the words ‘freedom is a human right’ and ‘all lives are equal’ on the side of his shoes.

Despite his pleas for the acts to be interpreted as humanitarian and not political, he was barred from taking to the field bearing the messages by the ICC. After calling out actors attempting to “divide, create hate and animosity in the Australian community”, Khawaja said he only ever wanted to promote a message of peace and unity.

“I understand that I’ve talked about certain issues outside of cricket, which leaves me exposed, which a lot of people don’t like,” he added.

 Go well, Uzzie. It will be difficult to get another of his kind!