Usman Khawaja shared his upbringing in Australia and the challenges of coming through Australian cricket which used to be a predominantly “white” culture.
The Australian opener stressed that cricket in the country has been largely represented by white players, making it challenging for him to fit in as a Pakistani-Muslim immigrant.
In 2010-11, Khawaja became the first Muslim to play for Australia when he made his Test debut in the Ashes.
Speaking to ABC Sport, Khawaja, who was born in Islamabad, Pakistan and moved to Sydney, Australia as a child, described the pressure he felt to try to fit in to a certain image in order to succeed.
“I wanted to be as ‘Australian’ as possible,” Khawaja said in the interview. “I wanted to be as white as possible, because I felt like that’s what I had to do to play for Australia.”
The Aussie also opened up how the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York transformed the lives of Muslim such as himself and added a new layer of difficulty to his experience.
“After September 11, things changed a lot, you know, everywhere around the world. There were a lot of things I’d grown up seeing and experiencing.”
In the last few years, Khawaja has embraced his identity on and off the field. He spoke about the legacy he wants to leave behind in Australian cricket, “The last five years, in particular, I’ve thought about what legacy I want to leave in this game. I’ve played cricket for a long time, and people will remember me as a cricketer. But there’s so much about Australia that I love and want everyone else to experience.”
Khawaja stressed on the importance of making Australian cricket accessible to people from all backgrounds. He hopes that his presence in the national team can clear misconceptions about people of different backgrounds.
“People are often scared of what they don’t understand,” he remarked. “But you don’t need to understand everything. I’m still a human being; I’m still a person. Where I’ve come from or what I believe in is irrelevant.”
“When I see people creating hate, trying to divide the Australian community based on beliefs or backgrounds, I feel an obligation to stand up for all the people like myself and those who don’t have a voice,” Khawaja asserted. “If I don’t stand up for that, who will?”
