Usman Khawaja breaks silence on speculations of retirement, will say goodbye to international cricket after the fifth Ashes Test

Sydney: Pakistan-born Australian veteran batsman Usman Khawaja has announced that he will retire from international cricket after the fifth and final Ashes Test against England starting on Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Announcing his retirement, Khawaja, the first Muslim player to play for Australia, also criticized the ‘racial’ stereotyping he had experienced during his career.

The SCG ground has been quite lucky for 39-year-old top-order batsman Khawaja. The fifth Test against England will be the 88th and last Test match of his career, which will be played on the same ground from where he started his first-class cricket career.

Khawaja scored his first century in the Ashes by scoring 171 runs against England at the SCG in 2018. At the age of 35, he gave a new direction to his career by scoring two centuries against England at the SCG itself. After this, Khawaja scored seven centuries in the next two years. But due to back pain, he was unable to start the innings in the first Ashes Test played in Perth of the current series and after this, he was ruled out of the Brisbane Test due to injury, raising questions about his place in the team.

He was initially left out of the team for the third Test match in Adelaide, but due to Steve Smith being unwell, Khawaja got a chance to make a comeback. By scoring 82 runs in the first innings in Adelaide, he confirmed his place in the fourth Test played in Melbourne. Coming into the fifth Test with a 3-1 lead, Australia has retained the Ashes. Khawaja said he felt he was “still treated a little differently” because of his Pakistani and Muslim background.

Khawaja told reporters here, “The way I was treated was different, the incidents were also different. I have back pain which is beyond my control but the media and former players pounce on me. I faced criticism for about five days.” He said, ”There were many racial stereotypes about me, like I am lazy, Pakistani, West Indian, black player… We are selfish, we only care about ourselves, we don’t care about the team, we don’t work hard. These were things I’ve struggled with my whole life.

Khawaja was criticized before the Perth match because he played golf twice and did not participate in the optional practice session. Some people believed that golf may have been the cause of his back problems. Khawaja said, “I can give you many examples when players got injured while playing golf but you people did not say anything about them. I can also give you examples when players drank a lot of beer the night before a match and became unwell but nothing was said about them but when I got injured, my commitment and my image as a person were questioned.

Khawaja said that he knew the end of his career was near. He said, “I think even before this series started I had an idea that this would be my last series. I am happy that I am bidding farewell on my own terms.” Khawaja has so far scored 6,206 runs in 87 Test matches at an average of 43.49, which includes 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries.

Khawaja said, “I am fortunate that I got the opportunity to play so many matches for Australia. I hope I have inspired people during this time.” Cricket Australia Chief Executive Officer Todd Greenberg said in a statement, ”Usman has made a huge contribution to Australian cricket. He has been one of Australia’s most reliable opening batsmen and a testament to his success is that he was named ICC Test Cricketer of the Year in the same season that Australia won the World Test Championship (in 2023).”