Usman Khawaja is riding his late-career resurgence into another Ashes summer, and says his comfort with an inevitable end has inspired it all.<\/p>\n
“God, through cricket, has given me far more than I could have imagined,” Khawaja said in a press conference at the SCG on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
“He’s given me memories I’ll carry forever, friendships that go well beyond the game, and lessons that shaped me, who I am, off the field.”<\/p>\n
Khawaja paid tribute to his parents, Tarek and Fauzia, for how hard they worked in taking them from Islamabad to Sydney and backing him on his cricket journey.<\/p>\n
“The early mornings, the long drives, the belief when the results weren’t there,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Mum, you knew plenty of those, when I used to become disappointed or sad, you always consoled me and I’ll never forget that. Dad, you always said that I would play for Australia one day, even though sometimes I didn’t believe it myself.<\/p>\n
“You taught me values before ambition, you taught me to be humble, always respectful, and treat everyone as equals, no matter what. I hope I repaid the sacrifice in leaving everything behind in Pakistan to come to Australia to give us kids a better life.”<\/p>\n
Khawaja hopes to have inspired kids who ‘feel they don’t belong’Loading…<\/p>\n
Brothers Nauman and Arsalan were thanked for their time training in the nets.<\/p>\n
“You always instilled that my journey would be tougher than the other kids,” Khawaja said.<\/p>\n
“And that if I wanted to make it, I would have to work harder than everyone else, score more runs than the rest, and make sure I don’t give them any excuse not to pick me.<\/p>\n
“I’ll never forget those words, and you were 100 per cent right.”<\/p>\n
He also paid a special tribute to wife Rachel and daughters Aisha and Ayla.<\/p>\n
![\"Usman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a6b2dfb351793d05862a44e37d44974f.jpeg\")
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Usman Khawaja with wife Rachel and daughters Aisha and Ayla at Lord’s in 2023. (Getty:\u00a0Ryan Pierse)<\/p>\n
“This journey has asked more of you than it’s ever asked of me, particularly since you read everything that goes on in the press,” he said to his wife.<\/p>\n
“The missed moments, the long stretches apart, the pressures that come with this life, and taking care of the kids on your own \u2014 you carried our family so I could chase my dream, and I’ll always be grateful for that.<\/p>\n
“I know how you always remind me that all my international centuries came after I met you. You truly are one of my greatest blessings in life \u2026 and I thank Allah every day that I got to share this journey with you.”<\/p>\n
He and his family have received numerous death threats over the years, with Rachel revealing on Instagram it had “gotten worse” since the terrorist attack in Bondi.<\/p>\n
Khawaja has not been shy about speaking on controversial topics in recent years, including the Israel-Gaza conflict, but said he hoped to have inspired more kids who look like him.<\/p>\n
“Particularly those who feel that they are different, those who feel they don’t belong, or those others [say] will never make it,” Khawaja said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6842738703b50b91ea7a29028054fbde.jpeg\")
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Khawaja went to Parliament House in August to talk about gambling reform and Gaza. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)<\/p>\n
“I felt all these things growing up and [while] trying to be an Australian cricketer. But seeing is believing, and I’m here to tell you that you can do whatever you want, you’ve just got to keep trying.<\/p>\n
“Never let anyone convince you that you can’t, because if they do convince you, then you never will.<\/p>\n
“I’m a proud Muslim coloured boy from Pakistan who was told that he would never play for the Australian cricket team. Look at me now. And you can do the same.”<\/p>\n
Calls to retire felt like ‘attacks’<\/p>\n
Coming into his final game, Khawaja averages 43.39 overall but a remarkable 48.05 as an opener, where he played half his Tests.<\/p>\n
That number puts him in the same league as the likes of Matthew Hayden (50.73), Justin Langer (48.22), Bill Lawry (47.15) and former teammate David Warner (45.08).<\/p>\n
The vast majority of his time as a Test opener came after he was recalled to the team in 2022, having been dropped for Marnus Labuschagne during the 2019 Ashes in England.<\/p>\n
A weight of Sheffield Shield runs for Queensland saw Khawaja return at number four for the penultimate Test of the 2021\/22 Ashes, and he scored remarkable twin tons in another momentous performance at the SCG.<\/p>\n
He replaced Marcus Harris for the following Test and was locked into one of two opening positions for the next three-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n
ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n Khawaja scored centuries in India, England, Sri Lanka, the UAE and Pakistan, his country of birth, when Australia toured the nation for the first time in 24 years for three Tests in March 2022.<\/p>\n The past couple of years have been leaner for the former Sydneysider, with a historic double century in Galle<\/a> in January his only century from his past 49 Test innings, averaging just 33.8 in that time.<\/p>\n In that time, Khawaja said some of the calls to retire felt like “attacks” from former players and the media, and said coach Andrew McDonald had asked him to stick around when he made clear he was willing to step aside during the 2024\/25 summer.<\/p>\n “I felt people were coming for me, saying I was selfish for staying on, but I wasn’t staying on for myself,” he said.<\/p>\n “Andrew McDonald, not begged, but said: ‘No, we want you to stay. We need you for Sri Lanka. I want you to stay on.’ And so I did. It was never totally about me.”<\/p>\n Still, poor form and his age led to speculation of an impending retirement leading into the series and that was only fuelled when Khawaja was unable to open in either innings of the first Test of this summer’s Ashes series due to back spasms<\/a>, and missed the second Test due to the injury.<\/p>\n